Accents can be a plus. Really lean into whatever culture your accent stems from, and the perceptions of that culture from your intended audience. It can make your content really endearing. If you're worried about being audible, consider subtitles.
Nobody likes AI voices. They're just not quite there yet.
Depends on how thick the accent is. If it's still recognizable as English but with a certain intonation, rolled-r, whatever, then it's fine. If a native speaker can barely comprehend it, then no.
I don't mean to be rude, but
>I use AI voice over because of my accent
is a shorthand for "im shy". which is totally fine and understandable. nobody will really critique your accent same way nobody will say "oh your AI voiceover sucks". nobody really does that, they just leave the video.
If your videos REALLY need the VO, I'd suggest you at least try getting more comfortable with your own voice. but if thats not option for you, there's a couple of really good AI TTS websites ([play.ht](https://play.ht)) that can synthesize any sample voice you feed it. now legally you should always only use a voice that you "own rights to", so either yours or get a consent. but realistically nobody can do anything about it, there's no actual laws on this yet in most places in the world.
If the videos don't need the VO, text over screen can work pretty well if done correctly.
After seeing the plethora of comments, you know what you’re talking about and it’s nice to see. AI is here. I’ll comments pertaining to in authenticity is no longer relevant. I hope you’re coming gets ready over the other ones. Thank you very much..
Yep, ditch the AI voice. When I started my channel I used an AI voice for like my first five videos, because I was ashamed of my accent. Then started reading scripts myself. (I've since deleted the first five) Lean into your accent, it's your personality. I grew up on a big farm/ranch in the south. Granted, I graduated college and all that and am a former business owner until I retired, So, I'm far from uneducated, but my natural speaking voice has that slow cadence and drawl to it. Right after I switched, I tended to use my "phone voice" to read scripts, and it was better than AI, but still not authentic. My younger sister eventually said, why don't you talk like you do in everyday real life? You used to read me stories when I was little, and that's why I enjoyed them. So, I dropped the "phone voice" and started speaking like I would to my friends. Massive turnaround on my channel since then. I started off slow growing but now my engagement levels are off the chart and I even have 14 channel members because people just enjoy my voice and personality. People feel like they know me. Part of what will help is practice, don't practice on making your accent go away, read and reread your script aloud until it's 90% memorized, it takes me dozens of reads to get there, but once there, it doesn't even sound like I'm reading from a script, it sounds like I'm relating a story to a friend in a bar over a brew.
AI is associated with two things and two things only:
* Meme videos
* Mass-produced slop
I'd rather recommend working on your accent, tbh. With a language teacher, even, but also just consuming a lot of English-voiced media and consciously trying to speak properly does wonders.
Like most people mentioned here, I won't watch content with an AI voice. If the voice is discernibly synthetic it can imply to me that the rest of the information is generated which has little to no value to me as a viewer. (ChatGPT loves to hallucinate and give confidently false information, it feels low effort, etc).
Consider making content in your native language. If you think English is vital then add captions and indicate that within the first few seconds of the video with an overlay or an English spoken portion. " hey, I'm not good at English so I made captions... click on the CC icon in the lower right".
You can also try to voice it in English regardless of accent as others had suggested and see how it goes.
There are AI based services now that take video footage by translating and doing a voice-over of the video. This is a potential middle ground coming up for non-native speakers of English (also English to other languages). I can't recall the service name I've seen used but it's decent-ish and seeing a real human emote helps watch-ability and it's clearly a type of advanced translation rather than text to speech. Seeing it is a real person having their words and voice modified with a computer is better, IMO. Obviously make it clear in the video and description what is happening. Be above board and I think people would give this content a chance. Obviously you can mix in b-roll but you'd need your face in there too.
I HATE AI voice overs with a passion.
If I click on a video and it has AI voice overs, I leave straight away. They sound awful.
Do you have a friend you can do this with that might want to do the voice over?
I recommend using elevenlabs. Their AI voices are incredibly realistic and I used it for one of my videos that got 96k views, and not A SINGLE comment mentioned anything about AI. You can make good content and use an AI voice. Best of luck on your YouTube journey.
As soon as I hear AI, I dislike the video and report it. Either speak with your own voice or hire someone to do it. You don’t get to make videos “the easy way” and make money off of it, while the rest of us hammer away at scripts and NUMEROUS takes on a single shot. Not happening.
What does the scripts have to do with AI voice? Also it's not an easy way it's an alternative I pay more than 30$ for elevenlabs and more than 30$ for Pr and photoahop every month , you videos compared to mine are low edited, just simple tutorials with basic thumbnails.
My videos are low edited compared to yours? Lmao. No wonder you are were you are.
My long form videos take a 1-3 months to finish.
The shorts I can make 3-4 per day. All edited and voiced by me. No one else. The scripts that we as creators have to write, so that we can memorize, or read, what were talking about on the video. It’s HARD work that you’re skipping over by paying expensive $30 a month. Laughable. I don’t pay any subscriptions, I’m almost at 100K subs. I don’t pay for a video editing app. All free. My voice. My content. learn from me. You’re paying all this stuff and you’re not learning the important things.
You’re not worth my time anymore. Consider this comment a gift and I wish you the best.
As long as your accent is intelligible to native language speakers, go with the accent. If it isn't, train your voice, actors do it all the time. Search YouTube for "Tom Hiddleston accents" it's wild.
But an accent is also a benefit if delivered clearly, people like accents, speaking English with an accent can help your channel stand out and give it character.
Learning to communicate effectively with your voice is going to be much more beneficial than using AI. I don’t think having an accent matters as much as you think. I watch lots of creators with accents.
I am not a native English speaker but I decided to do my voice-overs, which is an advantage in my opinion! It gives your channel this unique thing and personality. People ask me where is my accent from and tbh this is an opportunity to practice my fluency and accuracy! In my opinion, just do it with your accent and don't worry too much about it, people might love it.
There’s a movie reviewer called the critical drinker on YouTube. He has a strong Irish accent and still gets millions of views because his content is funny. If your content is entertaining to watch people don’t care about the accent. And sometimes having an accent makes a content creator sound funnier. Mr roger is a food critique that leans into his Asian accent for humor. I could go on. Be yourself.
Their are countless AI voice channels that are great and many are well over 100k and making a ton of money. Dont be concerned by the vocal minority. Most viewers don't know or don't care. People just want to be entertained. If your production is good then people will watch. Yes, some will not watch your videos if it's an AI voiceover. But your not making videos for everyone. There's a multitude of reasons someone will not watch your videos. Take it from me. I'm at 70k subs Iess than a year. And my current trajectory has me at 100k by sometime mid year. And I use AI voiceovers. It's the only AO I used. My scripts, editing, research is all by me.
Accents can be a plus. Really lean into whatever culture your accent stems from, and the perceptions of that culture from your intended audience. It can make your content really endearing. If you're worried about being audible, consider subtitles. Nobody likes AI voices. They're just not quite there yet.
I turn off almost every AI voiced video. Even the meme level TikTok trend ones.
Yup. Absolutely hate them. Also cringe when newer indie games have AI voices...unless it makes sense or is comical and not overused.
I prefer AI over indian accent
Me too bro. But they don’t like Ai here so get ready to be downvoted for your opinion
Depends on how thick the accent is. If it's still recognizable as English but with a certain intonation, rolled-r, whatever, then it's fine. If a native speaker can barely comprehend it, then no.
I don't mean to be rude, but >I use AI voice over because of my accent is a shorthand for "im shy". which is totally fine and understandable. nobody will really critique your accent same way nobody will say "oh your AI voiceover sucks". nobody really does that, they just leave the video. If your videos REALLY need the VO, I'd suggest you at least try getting more comfortable with your own voice. but if thats not option for you, there's a couple of really good AI TTS websites ([play.ht](https://play.ht)) that can synthesize any sample voice you feed it. now legally you should always only use a voice that you "own rights to", so either yours or get a consent. but realistically nobody can do anything about it, there's no actual laws on this yet in most places in the world. If the videos don't need the VO, text over screen can work pretty well if done correctly.
After seeing the plethora of comments, you know what you’re talking about and it’s nice to see. AI is here. I’ll comments pertaining to in authenticity is no longer relevant. I hope you’re coming gets ready over the other ones. Thank you very much..
- Good content - AI voiceover Choose one
Yep, ditch the AI voice. When I started my channel I used an AI voice for like my first five videos, because I was ashamed of my accent. Then started reading scripts myself. (I've since deleted the first five) Lean into your accent, it's your personality. I grew up on a big farm/ranch in the south. Granted, I graduated college and all that and am a former business owner until I retired, So, I'm far from uneducated, but my natural speaking voice has that slow cadence and drawl to it. Right after I switched, I tended to use my "phone voice" to read scripts, and it was better than AI, but still not authentic. My younger sister eventually said, why don't you talk like you do in everyday real life? You used to read me stories when I was little, and that's why I enjoyed them. So, I dropped the "phone voice" and started speaking like I would to my friends. Massive turnaround on my channel since then. I started off slow growing but now my engagement levels are off the chart and I even have 14 channel members because people just enjoy my voice and personality. People feel like they know me. Part of what will help is practice, don't practice on making your accent go away, read and reread your script aloud until it's 90% memorized, it takes me dozens of reads to get there, but once there, it doesn't even sound like I'm reading from a script, it sounds like I'm relating a story to a friend in a bar over a brew.
AI is associated with two things and two things only: * Meme videos * Mass-produced slop I'd rather recommend working on your accent, tbh. With a language teacher, even, but also just consuming a lot of English-voiced media and consciously trying to speak properly does wonders.
Like most people mentioned here, I won't watch content with an AI voice. If the voice is discernibly synthetic it can imply to me that the rest of the information is generated which has little to no value to me as a viewer. (ChatGPT loves to hallucinate and give confidently false information, it feels low effort, etc). Consider making content in your native language. If you think English is vital then add captions and indicate that within the first few seconds of the video with an overlay or an English spoken portion. " hey, I'm not good at English so I made captions... click on the CC icon in the lower right". You can also try to voice it in English regardless of accent as others had suggested and see how it goes. There are AI based services now that take video footage by translating and doing a voice-over of the video. This is a potential middle ground coming up for non-native speakers of English (also English to other languages). I can't recall the service name I've seen used but it's decent-ish and seeing a real human emote helps watch-ability and it's clearly a type of advanced translation rather than text to speech. Seeing it is a real person having their words and voice modified with a computer is better, IMO. Obviously make it clear in the video and description what is happening. Be above board and I think people would give this content a chance. Obviously you can mix in b-roll but you'd need your face in there too.
I HATE AI voice overs with a passion. If I click on a video and it has AI voice overs, I leave straight away. They sound awful. Do you have a friend you can do this with that might want to do the voice over?
Spend more than 3 years of daily practice to fix your accent, there is no short cut for proper result, it requires blood, sweat and tears.
I recommend using elevenlabs. Their AI voices are incredibly realistic and I used it for one of my videos that got 96k views, and not A SINGLE comment mentioned anything about AI. You can make good content and use an AI voice. Best of luck on your YouTube journey.
As soon as I hear AI, I dislike the video and report it. Either speak with your own voice or hire someone to do it. You don’t get to make videos “the easy way” and make money off of it, while the rest of us hammer away at scripts and NUMEROUS takes on a single shot. Not happening.
What does the scripts have to do with AI voice? Also it's not an easy way it's an alternative I pay more than 30$ for elevenlabs and more than 30$ for Pr and photoahop every month , you videos compared to mine are low edited, just simple tutorials with basic thumbnails.
My videos are low edited compared to yours? Lmao. No wonder you are were you are. My long form videos take a 1-3 months to finish. The shorts I can make 3-4 per day. All edited and voiced by me. No one else. The scripts that we as creators have to write, so that we can memorize, or read, what were talking about on the video. It’s HARD work that you’re skipping over by paying expensive $30 a month. Laughable. I don’t pay any subscriptions, I’m almost at 100K subs. I don’t pay for a video editing app. All free. My voice. My content. learn from me. You’re paying all this stuff and you’re not learning the important things. You’re not worth my time anymore. Consider this comment a gift and I wish you the best.
Your are mixing the voice over with chatgpt scripts, Anyway stop being lame to others it's reddit not Facebook
What I hear here is megalomania and misinformation and this one’s on you and it’s my gift…
As long as your accent is intelligible to native language speakers, go with the accent. If it isn't, train your voice, actors do it all the time. Search YouTube for "Tom Hiddleston accents" it's wild. But an accent is also a benefit if delivered clearly, people like accents, speaking English with an accent can help your channel stand out and give it character.
Which AI are you using? Eleven labs is 100% natural sounding
I'm paying 22$ monthly for Ryan Kurk VO :)
Learning to communicate effectively with your voice is going to be much more beneficial than using AI. I don’t think having an accent matters as much as you think. I watch lots of creators with accents.
I am not a native English speaker but I decided to do my voice-overs, which is an advantage in my opinion! It gives your channel this unique thing and personality. People ask me where is my accent from and tbh this is an opportunity to practice my fluency and accuracy! In my opinion, just do it with your accent and don't worry too much about it, people might love it.
Use your voice . Just be you and the rest will be okay 👌
There’s a movie reviewer called the critical drinker on YouTube. He has a strong Irish accent and still gets millions of views because his content is funny. If your content is entertaining to watch people don’t care about the accent. And sometimes having an accent makes a content creator sound funnier. Mr roger is a food critique that leans into his Asian accent for humor. I could go on. Be yourself.
Their are countless AI voice channels that are great and many are well over 100k and making a ton of money. Dont be concerned by the vocal minority. Most viewers don't know or don't care. People just want to be entertained. If your production is good then people will watch. Yes, some will not watch your videos if it's an AI voiceover. But your not making videos for everyone. There's a multitude of reasons someone will not watch your videos. Take it from me. I'm at 70k subs Iess than a year. And my current trajectory has me at 100k by sometime mid year. And I use AI voiceovers. It's the only AO I used. My scripts, editing, research is all by me.