In a bid to strengthen its artificial intelligence (AI) unit, Superintelligence Labs, Meta has reportedly purchased AI voice startup WaveForms.
WaveForms, founded only eight months ago, secured a major investment of $40 million from Andreessen Horowitz in a round at a valuation of $160 million pre-money, per PitchBook data.
This acquisition marks the Zeckerberg-owned platform’s major acquisition in the AI audio landscape in a month, after its reported acquisition of Play AI.
According to The Independent, two of the startup’s co-founders, former Alphabet-owned Google advertising strategist Coralie Lemaitre and OpenAI researcher Alexis Conneau, have been appointed at Meta.
Notably, at OpenAI, Conneau co-manufactured GPT4-o, cutting-edge voice mode neural networks.
It is pertinent to mention that WaveForms seemingly removed its own website.
However, the company’s LinkedIn page described its mission as solving the “Speech Turing Test,” which analyses if people can distinguish between human and AI-generated speech.
Notably, WaveForms was previously developing “Emotional General Intelligence,” which entirely focuses on comprehending individual self-awareness and managing emotions.
Part of an expanding AI audio strategy
With both AI voice startup companies under Meta’s belt, the Menlo Park-based tech giant seems to be establishing a strong foundation in the audio AI sector.
These purchases may assist Meta in boosting the development of emotionally intelligent voice assistants, shifting the paradigm of how users interact with AI in the near future.
By strengthening its AI audio portfolio, Meta is solidifying the position of Superintelligence Labs in the upcoming wave of conversational AI technology landscape.
