Incorporating WaveForms into Superintelligence Labs gives Meta even more reason to focus on AI audio tech. This acquisition strengthens Meta’s recent focus on AI audio after the acquisition of PlayAI.
What is WaveForms?
WaveForms was a young but promising AI startup.
- Founded just eight months ago
- Backed by Andreessen Horowitz with $40 million in funding
- Valued at $160 million pre-money, according with PitchBook
- Mission: Solve the Speech Turing Test – can you tell if speech is human or AI?
WaveForms sought to make AI-generated speech sound more human. ‘Emotional General Intelligence’ aimed to make AI speech sound more human by enhancing the perception of emotions in AI.
Who’s Behind WaveForms?
The startup was co-founded by:
- Alexis Conneau, Former Meta and OpenAI researcher. He helped build the GPT-4o’s Advanced Voice Mode neural networks.
- Coralie Lemaître, Former Google advertising strategist.
- Kartikay Khandelwal, Completed the trio and serves as chief technologist. His current title is uncertain.
Conneau and Lemaitre are reported to have joined Meta. It is unclear if Khandelwal and the 14 other company employees (per LinkedIn) will also make the move to Meta.
What Does This Mean for Meta?
Meta is serious about owning the future of AI-powered voice technologies with the acquisition of WaveForms.
- It further strengthens the Superintelligence Labs division.
- It also gives Meta access to cutting-edge AI voice technologies which include emotionally intelligent speech.
- The aim is to create AI that sounds and converses like humans, and emotionally engages like humans too.
This is aligned with the company’s wider objectives of embedding AI voice and generative audio technologies into products like:
- Voice functionalities for WhatsApp
- Voice filters for Instagram
- Meta AI Assistant
By acquiring WaveForms, Meta is not merely purchasing technology; the company is acquiring leading industry talent and intellectual property concerning speech AI technology.
What’s Next for WaveForms?
The startup’s website is currently down, but their LinkedIn vision does remain active:
“To solve the Speech Turing Test and pioneer Emotional General Intelligence.”
Whether Meta will fully absorb WaveForms or incorporate them as a separate team within Superintelligence Labs is yet to be determined.
Key Takeaways
- Meta has acquired WaveForms, an AI voice firm, to improve its audio AI capabilities.
- This follows the recent acquisition of PlayAI, showing movement in the voice-first AI sector.
- WaveForms specialized in creating emotional intelligence for AI voices to make them human-like.
- Two of the co-founders have previously worked for Meta, OpenAI, and Google, and have transitioned to Meta as well.
The acquisition aims to push Meta’s Superintelligence Labs to be the global leader in AI communication.
Final Remarks
WaveForms’ acquisition shows how serious Meta is in regard to AI powered audio. Meta is looking to advance AI voices to the level of human sounding voices. This would change the way users engage with digital assistants, ranging from customer support bots to voice enabled apps on social media.
As the competition in the AI race gets tougher, Meta having ownership of the voice layer of AI technology would put them ahead of the game.