From 3% to 100%: Ese Bobori on Using AI to Open the Audiobook Industry to Every Author

In his Legacy Bench conversation, Ese Bobori shares the vision behind a business that is challenging one of publishing’s biggest accessibility gaps. As the founder of Audibound, an AI-powered audiobook production platform, he is working to solve a problem that has existed for decades: why only around 3% of books ever become audiobooks.

But his story is about more than artificial intelligence.

It is about questioning an industry where thousands of authors invest years writing books, only to discover that the vast majority will never be available in audio, limiting their reach, their income, and their audience.

For Ese, this isn’t simply a technology problem. It is an opportunity to rethink how creative industries can become more inclusive without sacrificing quality.

Traditional audiobook production is expensive, time-consuming, and often commercially viable only for bestselling titles. As a result, independent authors, niche publishers, and emerging writers are frequently excluded from a rapidly growing market, despite increasing demand from listeners around the world.

That challenge became the foundation for Audibound.

Rather than replacing creativity, Ese is building an AI platform designed to remove barriers that have prevented millions of books from reaching audio audiences. His goal is to make audiobook production significantly more accessible while ensuring authors have greater opportunities to share their work with the world.

As artificial intelligence continues to reshape the creative industries, Ese believes an important conversation needs to take place.

Can AI help democratise access to publishing without diminishing the value of human creativity? Can technology create new opportunities for authors while respecting the craft of professional narrators and the artistry that has shaped the audiobook industry for decades?

For Ese, the answer is yes, but only if the technology is built responsibly.

He believes AI should expand opportunities rather than replace them, helping more stories find an audience while allowing human creativity to remain at the centre of the creative process. Innovation, he argues, should empower creators rather than exclude them.

Joining The Legacy Bench gives Ese the opportunity to share his entrepreneurial journey while contributing to wider conversations about AI, publishing, and the future of creative industries in an increasingly digital world.

At the centre of Ese’s work is a simple belief: every author deserves the opportunity to have their story heard, not just the few who can afford traditional production.

As Audibound continues to grow, he remains focused on building technology that expands access, supports creators, and helps shape a publishing industry where opportunity is determined by the quality of the story, not the size of the production budget.

His story is a reminder that the greatest potential of artificial intelligence isn’t replacing creativity. It’s giving more people the chance to share it.