Google Chrome adds a read-aloud option to the reading mode, allowing users to listen to the articles like an audio book.
Google is preparing to bring additional features to the reading mode and a handy reading option is already in the program browsing Chrome. As the name suggests, read-aloud will essentially read the entire article to you, as if you were listening to an audiobook, with possibilities text-to-speech (TTS).
To mention, some mainstream browsers and apps like Pocket already have the feature, but Google Chrome is just now rolling it out through the Canary channel.
When you open an article in Chrome Canary's reading mode on desktop, you will see a new option. You can use this tiny button respproduction to make the browser read the article.
In the video shared by a user on reddit, you can get an idea of what the narrative sounds like – but it's not a very pleasant feeling.
The (male) voice output sounds quite robotic, as it was in the early days of TTS conversions, which is especially ironic for Google, which has some of the most natural voice models.
This clearly shows that the read-aloud feature is still in the early stages of development and it will take some time before it is ready for the public.
