Meta buys AI voice-cloning startup PlayAI to boost its next-gen AI ambitions

Meta

Meta is on an AI shopping spree and its latest purchase is a voice cloning startup called PlayAI. As reported by Bloomberg, Meta has struck a deal to acquire the California-based company, which has built a tool that can replicate human voices with impressive accuracy. What’s more, the entire PlayAI team is now set to join Meta as early as next week.

In an internal memo seen by Bloomberg, Meta said the PlayAI team will be working under Johan Schalkwyk, a big name in the AI world who used to lead speech AI research at Google and recently joined Meta. The company believes PlayAI’s work fits perfectly with its growing AI portfolio, especially for Meta AI, its AI characters, and even its upcoming wearables.

So, what exactly does PlayAI do? It has built technology that can clone your voice and also create completely new human-like voices. These can be used on websites, apps, and even for phone calls. While Meta has confirmed the acquisition, it hasn’t revealed the price tag just yet.

This latest deal is part of Meta’s bigger ambition to dominate AI. Over the past few months, Mark Zuckerberg has been personally assembling a dream team for Meta’s new AI Superintelligence lab, a project focused on building AI systems smarter than humans. Just last month, Meta reportedly poured $14.3 billion into another AI company, Scale AI, and hired its CEO, Alexandr Wang, to lead the new lab.

Meta is also making headlines for aggressively hiring top AI talent from other tech giants. Reports say the company is offering eye-popping $100 million bonuses to lure talent away from rivals. So far, it’s poached some of the key minds behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT and GPT-4, Google’s Gemini, and even Apple’s top AI executive.

With the PlayAI deal, Meta is now expanding its focus on AI-powered voice features, which could soon show up in everything from virtual assistants to smart wearables. It’s clear that Meta doesn’t just want to be part of the AI race — it wants to lead it.