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If you ever listen to people try to record sound that's clear and precise, they actually sound fairly robotic. See this Google 20% Project where they explore Google Assistant's voice creation: https://youtu.be/qnGNfz7JiZ8?t=5m23s

WaveNet is probably modeling the source data very well. It sounds like they just need more data with emotion and inflection, rather than having source data that is optimized for monotonicity and precision.

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Great video!

If you work in radio or voiceover you learn really quickly that the voice is so much more complex than people give it credit for. Subtle changes in delivery, timing, inflection, syllabic emphasis, pauses etc... make a massive difference.

Anyone can "talk like a robot" but speaking naturally is way more dynamical than just making the sounds of the words transition smoothly.

I'm not sure if it's way easier or way harder than we're doing it now.

The improved voices sound exactly like the audio from CBT's I've taken in the past. Could possibly have fooled me.

What is CBT?

CBT is commonly understood to mean Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, but in this case I believe OP means computer based training(s?)

Computer-Based Training

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