The Big Lead

ESPN podcast uses AI assisted voice technology for Sarah Langs' stats segment

By J.P. Hoornstra

May 13, 2018; Phoenix, AZ, USA; ESPN baseball reporter Buster Olney during the Washington Nationals game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
May 13, 2018; Phoenix, AZ, USA; ESPN baseball reporter Buster Olney during the Washington Nationals game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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Sarah Langs usually needs no introduction. A baseball researcher with an encyclopedic knowledge of players, teams, and the records they set, Langs is a regular on ESPN's Baseball Tonight podcast with Buster Olney.

This week, however, Langs did need an introduction. Her voice, which has served as an audible reminder of her fight against ALS (aka "Lou Gehrig's Disease"), sounded noticeably more crisp and clear.

"She's been part of this show for most of the last decade, and she'll continue to be bringing us news and notes and all kinds of data, information," Olney said of Langs, "and she'll do it with an assist from a nonprofit called Bridging Voice, a partnership with ElevenLabs. You see Sarah's notes on Twitter and you will hear them here."

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According to the Bridging Voice website, ElevenLabs "allows for the creation of highly accurate Professional Voice Clones (PVC), often indistinguishable from a person’s natural voice."

Langs has herself cautioned listeners many times about the danger of reading too much into small sample sizes. Ignoring her warning here: the technology works. The segment sounded less like something generated by AI, and more like Sarah Langs.

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The promise of the tech, of course, has implications beyond one segment on one sports podcast. ElevenLabs' AI assistant is advertised as a free product for anyone diagnosed with ALS who resides in the United States.

Peer-reviewed research suggests 1 in every 400 people will develop ALS in their lifetimes. There is no cure for the fatal disease, which currently carries a life expectancy of 2 to 4 years.

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But every dark cloud contains a silver lining. While thousands of friends and family members enjoy hearing the voices of those afflicted with ALS again, longtime Baseball Tonight podcast listeners will enjoy the chance to hear Langs' insights again as they have for years.

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