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Meta completed its acquisition of voice cloning startup PlayAI this week, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally orchestrating the deal to accelerate the company’s artificial intelligence capabilities.
The California-based startup’s entire team joined Meta’s artificial intelligence (AI) Superintelligence Labs on July 12, as reported by Bloomberg. PlayAI specializes in generating synthetic human-like voices for applications and mobile devices.
Meta’s internal memo stated PlayAI’s “work in creating natural voices, along with a platform for easy voice creation, is a great match for our work and road map, across AI Characters, Meta AI, Wearables and audio content creation.” Financial terms remain undisclosed. Meta confirmed the acquisition but declined further comment.
Zuckerberg has been personally campaigning to build Meta’s new AI Superintelligence Labs after reported frustration with slow progress on Llama, the company’s flagship open-source language model. The CEO recently recruited Scale AI’s Alexandr Wang to lead the superintelligence division through a separate $14.3 billion investment deal.
Meta offered up to $100 million in bonuses to rival employees. The company successfully hired co-creators of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and GPT-4 models, Apple’s top AI executive, and multiple Google Gemini team members.
The PlayAI team reports to Johan Schalkwyk, who previously oversaw speech AI research at Google before joining Meta from voice startup Sesame AI.
Voice technology carries strategic importance as AI agents replace human roles in call centers, healthcare, and retail. Research shows 17.9% of consumers use voice technology for shopping, with 30.4% of Gen Z consumers shopping by voice weekly.
“Voice is one of the most powerful unlocks for AI application companies,” said Olivia Moore, an Andreessen Horowitz partner. “It is the most frequent and information-dense form of communication, made programmable for the first time due to AI.”
Meta’s acquisition strategy focuses on absorbing entire teams while investing heavily in data centers and processing infrastructure. The company restructured its AI division under centralized leadership.
Zuckerberg’s direct involvement signals Meta’s determination to compete with OpenAI and Google in developing artificial general intelligence. The voice technology positions Meta to enhance its AI Characters and wearable devices with natural speech capabilities.
