ElevenLabs has released a roughly 13-hour AI-generated audiobook of Homer's The Odyssey through its ElevenReader app, narrated by a licensed AI replica of Michael Caine's voice. Variety first reported the production.
A four-person team produced the full audiobook in six weeks. The cast runs to about 20 AI voice characters, backed by AI-generated sound and score. Caine licensed his voice through ElevenLabs' Iconic Marketplace and is paid each time it is used.
Caine licensed his voice through the Iconic Marketplace and signed off on this specific project
Michael Caine licensed his voice and likeness to ElevenLabs' Iconic Marketplace in 2025. For this audiobook, ElevenLabs says he was consulted on the project, approved the marketing materials, and receives compensation each time his voice runs in ElevenReader.
"By bridging classical storytelling with digital innovation, this timeless epic is reimagined for modern audiences, brought vividly to life through ElevenReader's cutting-edge technology," Caine said in a statement.
The consent structure speaks to the voice-licensing debate VP Land has tracked across AI audio work. We covered the Fortnite AI Darth Vader release, where SAG-AFTRA raised objections even after the rights were cleared, a sign that authorization and labor concerns can run on separate tracks.
A four-person team built the full production in six weeks
The audiobook features about 20 AI voice characters drawn from ElevenLabs' voice library, plus AI-generated sound and an original score. ElevenLabs also produced dubs across multiple languages.
According to Madeline Shue of the publisher partnerships team, that output was "previously not possible to do that type of work with a small team and a short timeline."
Dustin Blank, ElevenLabs' head of partnerships, framed the release as "another retelling" that he said "does justice" to the text.
The audiobook runs on ElevenReader, the consumer reading app where ElevenLabs has been expanding its synthetic-voice catalog. We previously reported on ElevenLabs' text-to-Voice Design tool, which generates custom voices from a text prompt.
The release is timed ahead of Christopher Nolan's 'Odyssey' film
ElevenLabs released the audiobook to precede Christopher Nolan's film adaptation of The Odyssey. We covered how Nolan pushed IMAX to develop new cameras for that production, which is being shot entirely on IMAX.
For ElevenLabs, the Caine project doubles as a reference case: a consent-based celebrity voice license, an IP tie-in around a major theatrical release, and a large-scale immersive audiobook produced quickly with a small crew. It also extends the company's move beyond speech into full audio production, alongside the custom music finetuning it rolled out for its creative suite.
What a licensed, AI-narrated audiobook signals for voice work
The Odyssey audiobook tests whether consent-based voice licensing can support a full commercial production rather than a demo. Caine's deal pairs an upfront license with per-use compensation, a structure that gives talent recurring payment while letting a four-person team produce at a scale that once required a full cast and studio. How widely that model spreads will depend on how SAG-AFTRA and individual performers weigh the terms against the production economics ElevenLabs is demonstrating.
