First lady Melania Trump’s 2024 self-titled memoir will represent the “future of publishing,” she said, announcing that an audiobook of her memoir would be narrated by an AI-generated replica of her voice.
Trump unveiled “Melania: The Audiobook” via X, proclaiming it as “A NEW ERA IN PUBLISHING.” In an attached promotional clip, the narrator declares, “My story. My perspective. The truth.” The seven-hour audiobook can be found on Trump’s personal website.
Software company ElevenLabs created the AI narration for Trump’s audiobook. Despite only launching in 2022, ElevenLabs’ voice synthesis technology has fueled multiple controversies after 4Chan users easily generated deep fake celebrities to spout hateful content and a nightmarish harassment campaign targeted actual voice actors.
Since then, the company says it has tightened things up so you can only clone your own voice. Per Newsmax, Melania Trump said that ElevenLabs’ developed its replica “under my strict supervision” and it will “establish an unforgettable connection with my personal story, in multiple languages for listeners worldwide.”
Currently, Trump’s audiobook is only available in English, but there are plans to release additional languages in the fall. ElevenLabs can create audio in over 30 languages including Hindi, Spanish, and Russian.
A NEW ERA IN PUBLISHING
I am honored to bring you Melania – The AI Audiobook – narrated entirely using artificial intelligence in my own voice.
Let the future of publishing begin.
Exclusively: https://t.co/xIfkkmL4YC pic.twitter.com/ab4Qb43AOC— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) May 22, 2025
Trump released her memoir towards the end of last year’s presidential election campaigns. It debuted at the top of the New York Times hardcover nonfiction best-seller list, but don’t read too much into that. Trump’s memoir barely sold over 85,000 hardcover copies in its first week. Compare that to Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” which also debuted at number one and became the best-selling hardcover of 2018, selling 2 million copies in 15 days.
Although “Melania” didn’t generate huge sales, it does have a 3.83 rating on Goodreads. The book offered some insights into Trump’s life, including how she met Donald Trump. She also surprised many with a pro-choice stance, writing, “A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes.”
AI audiobooks are on the rise. Several years ago, Apple quietly rolled out “digital narration” and, last year, Amazon shared plans to use AI narrators, too. ElevenLabs boasts that fake audiobook narrators can save on time and costs. Per its website, AI can narrate an audiobook “often in a matter of hours” and you don’t have to worry about paying it a living wage.
However, even ElevenLabs recognizes that AI “lacks the nuanced emotional expression” of an actual person. Critiques that AI narration sounds “alien” or “glitchy” are common. Still, the company has high hopes for its partnership with Trump. Per NewsMax, CEO Mati Staniszewski said, “We’re excited that Melania Trump trusted our technology to power this first-of-its-kind audiobook. We look forward to helping bring this book to the public in many other languages, in Mrs. Trump’s own voice, soon.”
