Amman – August 2025

As part of the “Eye on AI and Journalism” series under the “Shielding the Truth” project, funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ARIJ organized a webinar titled “Voice in AI: From Generation to Transcription,” led by ARIJ’s Communications Manager, Samya Ayish. The session attracted 91 live participants from various countries (55% female).

The session explored the critical role of voice—particularly the human voice—in conveying emotion and context in journalism, in light of the growing use of AI tools such as text-to-speech conversion and voice cloning. It also addressed the ethical concerns related to personal consent and the responsible use of such technologies in professional settings.

Ayish highlighted the opportunities that these tools provide, including improving accessibility, reaching multilingual audiences, and producing high-quality audio content more efficiently. She shared real-world applications such as automated podcast generation and article narration, using tools like Transkriptor, ElevenLabs, and NotebookLM.

The webinar received strong engagement, with an overall satisfaction score of 94%, and the trainer’s performance was rated at 93%, reflecting the value and relevance of the content in helping journalists strengthen their skills in using voice-related AI tools.

Participants’ Reflections:

1. “The material was delivered in an engaging and smooth manner, and questions were addressed clearly.”  — Hanan Al-Tayeb Mohamed Mousa, Sudan – Female
2. “All key information and model examples were included in the webinar, with helpful links shared promptly.”  — Yasmeen Abd El-Qader Khalil, Jordan – Female
3. “A valuable session full of new insights and useful voice-related tools.” — Ismail Ali Al-Zouei, Libya – Male