Just wanted to see if anyone else thinks this is an AI generated voiceover. It is a little bland and already a little hard to listen to over a long period of time.
The content and general layout of the videos are great, but I wish they would have used a real human for the voiceovers. Maybe I’m wrong, but I am already appreciating non-AI content more in this new era of human vs AI content!
Omg - I just started studying for PA, switched over to the new content, played the first section and immediately ran to the community page to see if anyone else has mentioned the AI voice over!
It’s HORRIBLE, there’s zero emotion or engagement in his words and everything just sounds flat and monotone. I’m having to constantly replay bits because it’s just not sinking in like previous content. The only thing I can hope for is enough people emailing and complaining to the black specs support email because this cannot be the new normal.
Agreed with all that you said, its too bad! It seems they took a shortcut with this one, the other new material had a real voiceover and was easier to follow!
Agreed, love the new content except for the AI voice which takes the life out of the videos. Also, the flashcards are no longer working even though I am paying for the Pro version which is irritating, especially when I have an exam in one week. BS is trying to make me to upgrade to an Expert plan just to access them, even though they are supposed to be included in the Pro plan.
Definitely hard to listen to this AI voice. I feel like it’s harder to retain the content info with it!
I completely agree. I keep replaying parts and its hard to stay focused with that voice.
I completely agree; the AI voice makes it very difficult to follow the content, stay focused and find meaning in the words being “spoken”. The company I work for just started paying for this and I will be telling them to find another service. Previously I had success with the PcM and PjM modules where the content was voiced by a human person. Not only are the AI “voiced” videos less effective/harder to understand or pay attention to, but I am astonished that Black Spectacles thinks this is acceptable to provide AI generated material as study content that we are paying for!
Hey Everyone. Thanks for all of the feedback. I’ll be honest- I’m embarrassed that this AI voiceover was such a flop. We debated it internally, and decided to give it a try to see if it could be a useful tool for our team. I watched the course a couple of months ago and totally agreed with the feedback that the AI voiceover didn’t meet our standards. As a result, our team has begun to rework the videos for PA, and we’re actually working with one of our teammates, Patrick (who you may have heard on ARE Live) to redo the voiceover for PA- he’s awesome. We decided that we’re going to release these videos in sections, rather than waiting for all of them to be done, so we can get replacement videos to you as soon as possible. I expect that you’ll start seeing new videos in June 2024. Lastly, we’ve learned a lot from the production of this course, and we’ve quickly implemented new standards and new processes, so we can continue to deliver world class learning to you all. Something we talk openly about as a team are times when we ‘screw up, and learn up’. This was definitely a “screw up, learn up”, and I’ve especially learned a ton. I can promise you that the members of our team who make our videos have poured their hearts, souls, and many late nights and weekends to deliver world-class learning to you, as fast as humanly possible. We have high standards. We usually meet those standards, but sometimes we miss. This time we missed, and that’s my fault. So, my sincere apologies, but know that we’re on it, and have already started developing the fix. Wishing you all the best. If you want to reach out for more info, hit me up at marcteer@blackspectacles.com.
Thanks-
Marc,
Founder & CEO
Black Spectaccles
I agree. Although the content and information are reasonable, it is hard to continue listening to that monochord voice without intonation and without intentions to reinforce the main ideas. Also, the interleaved videos with the architect are of irrelevant content.
Good morning @thinlinegroup.llc , and everyone who has posted in this thread. I wanted to provide an update on this issue. We have begun replacing these videos as of last week. I’m hopeful that by mid June all of the old voiceover will be replaced with Patrick’s voiceover. Thanks for your feedback on this, it’s super valuable, and has helped us prioritize this change over other work. I’ll repost once we’re all done!
Marc
Hi Everyone-
A few weeks ago we completed replacing the voiceover with Patrick’s voice, for the PA course. Thanks again for your feedback!
Marc