Meta Acquires Ai Audio Startup Waveforms

Meta has acquired AI sound startup WaveForms for an undisclosed sum, The Information reports. It’s nan company’s latest bargain to fortify its caller AI unit, Superintelligence Labs, and Meta’s 2nd awesome AI audio acquisition successful nan past period aft it bought PlayAI. 

WaveForms, founded conscionable 8 months ago, raised $40 cardinal from Andreessen Horowitz successful a information that weighted nan institution astatine $160 cardinal pre-money, per PitchBook data. 

Two of nan startup’s co-founders – erstwhile Meta and OpenAI interrogator Alexis Conneau, and erstwhile Google advertizing strategist Coralie Lemaitre – person reportedly joined Meta. While astatine OpenAI, Conneau co-created GPT4-o Advanced Voice Mode neural networks. 

TechCrunch has reached retired to WaveForms to find retired if its 3rd co-founder and main technologist, Kartikay Khandelwal, will besides subordinate Meta, arsenic good arsenic nan result of nan woody for nan astir 14 different staffers (per LinkedIn) astatine nan company.

WaveForms appears to person taken down its ain website, but nan company’s LinkedIn page describes its ngo arsenic solving nan “Speech Turing Test,” which tries to measurement if a listener tin separate betwixt quality and AI-generated speech. WaveForms was besides processing “Emotional General Intelligence,” which focuses connected knowing individual self-awareness and management.