Meta acquires voice AI startup PlayAI, strengthening voice technology
PlayAI: This acquisition between the two companies was in the talks, which has now been finalized, although the financial details of the deal have not been shared. A Meta spokesperson confirmed the acquisition, but declined to comment further.
Meta Platforms Inc. acquired PlayAI, a small but powerful AI startup that has been developing voice technology. As per this agreement, the whole PlayAI team will be joining Meta next week. This team will now fall under Johan Skalkvik, who also joined Meta recently, who himself is a veteran coming from another voice AI startup Sesame AI Inc.
According to previous reports by Bloomberg, this acquisition between the two companies was in the talks, which has now been finalized, although the financial details of the deal have not been shared. A Meta spokesperson confirmed the acquisition, but declined to comment further.
Meta has made artificial intelligence its top priority this year. The company has invested heavily in chips, data centers and AI talent. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced a major reorganization of the AI division and appointed former Scale AI CEO Alexander Wang to head the new unit Meta Superintelligence Labs.
According to the memo, the work done by PlayAI's team to develop natural voices and create an easy voice creation platform will prove to be extremely useful for Meta's upcoming projects such as AI Characters, Meta AI, Wearables and audio content creation. This acquisition is considered another important step towards taking Meta's voice and AI technology to the next level.
