Audible, an Amazon-owned audiobook provider, announced on Wednesday that it is piloting an AI-driven search feature designed to help users refine their audiobook selections.

Starting today, a segment of U.S. users can experiment with “Maven,” Audible’s new personal recommendation assistant. Maven utilizes natural language processing to understand users' specific requests and suggests titles from Audible's extensive library of nearly one million audiobooks. For example, users can input queries like, “I’m looking for an uplifting fiction novel with a female protagonist,” and Maven will deliver customized recommendations.

Maven is available on both iOS and Android platforms. Approximately half of Audible’s U.S. user base across all membership tiers will have access to this feature, though it currently supports only a subset of the audiobook catalog, according to Audible's blog post.

As with any beta release, Audible plans to improve Maven over time. While the specific AI models powering Maven were not disclosed, a company representative informed TechCrunch that Maven leverages “the strengths of multiple models” and will undergo continuous evaluation and enhancement as AI technology advances.

Audible is also exploring other AI applications. In conjunction with the Maven launch, the company announced it is testing AI-curated collections and AI-generated summaries of audiobook reviews. The AI-curated collections could potentially rival Spotify's AI-generated playlists.

This announcement comes on the heels of reports that a significant number of AI-narrated audiobooks are being consumed by Audible users. This trend has sparked concern among narrators and creatives over job security. As of May, over 40,000 titles featured AI narrators, and this number is likely on the rise.