The integration of AI technology in audiobook creation and publishing has introduced significant changes and challenges within the audio arts field, demanding a reevaluation of traditional concepts and models. This paper analyzes the implications of AI-driven audiobook publishing through the lens of new quality productive forces and the cultural metaverse. It deconstructs the “textual poaching” logic of generative AI within the audiobook sector, employing a Marxist methodological approach to assess how these technologies reshape the cultural industry. The study highlights four dimensions—new forms of productive forces, new production factors, new production relations, and new production efficiency—revealing that contemporary audiobook publishing exhibits distinct production dynamics compared to the past. The fusion of data by generative AI, the “de-originalization” of cultural materials, human-machine co-creation models, and the structural transformation of traditional cultural industries present expanded and innovative opportunities for China’s audiobook sector. By incorporating the cultural metaverse perspective, the paper explores how immersive and interactive elements of the metaverse further influence the creation and consumption of audiobooks, offering new insights into the evolution of this cultural sector.