Meta is in currently in acquisition talks with PlayAI, a California-based startup that provides its users with an AI voice cloning tool, according to Bloomberg. According to the news organization, Meta is looking to buy the startup’s technology, as well as to absorb some of its employees into the company. The parties haven’t come to an agreement yet, but if the acquisition pushes through, it could give the company the technology it needs to expand its voice AI offerings. It could roll out more voice features for its AI chatbot and assistant, as well as for its smart glasses from Ray-Ban and Oakley.
While both companies refused to confirm their talks to Bloomberg, the potential purchase of an AI voice cloning tool doesn’t sound out of left field for Meta based on its recent activities. Company chief Mark Zuckerberg has been personally involved in a hiring spree for high-level AI experts over the past few months to form the company’s new AI Superintelligence team.
Zuckerberg has reportedly been offering experts from rival companies like OpenAI compensation packages as big as $100 million, and a few had already accepted. Just a few days ago, Meta finalized a $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI, a startup that provides other companies with data labeling and model evaluation services for AI training. In exchange, Scale AI’s founder and CEO Alexandr Wang joined Meta and is believed to be heading its new Superintelligence lab. Before Meta decided to invest in Scale AI, it also considered acquiring Perplexity AI.
PlayAI’s website says its tool can mimic or clone a user’s voice and can generate voices as real as humans, which can be deployed to websites, apps and phones. While its acquisition could lead to useful voice features for Meta’s apps and websites, the company could also use the tool to make more life-like AI chatbots. Zuckerberg’s vision of the future, after all, is a world where people’s AI friends outnumber human ones. We may already be seeing the beginnings of such a world, considering chatbot romances have become increasingly popular over the past few months.
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