WaveForms Raises $40 Million for Voice AI Offering

A veteran of OpenAI’s voice assistant project reportedly launched a similar effort of his own.

WaveForms AI is developing artificial intelligence audio software that can pick up on emotional cues and allow for better conversations with machines, Bloomberg reported Monday (Dec. 9).

CEO and co-founder Alexis Conneau said his company raised $40 million in funding from venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, valuing WaveForms at $200 million, per the report.

In his time with OpenAI, Conneau developed the company’s advanced voice mode, designed to offer real-time replies to users’ spoken in a human-sounding voice, the report said. He left the company just before OpenAI introduced a voice assistant for paid ChatGPT users.

Now, Conneau is working on an AI that can deliver more immersive voice interactions, which involves creating software that can interpret people’s words and how they speak without being trained in advance on the nuances of how they interact, according to the report. For instance, an AI voice assistant may need to register the hesitation in a person’s voice in a conversation about a math problem and adapt based on that cue.

WaveForms is part of a growing number of AI startups focusing on human-sounding voice features, the report said.

“This technology will change our relationship to software,” Clarity AI CEO and founder Joan Palmiter Bajorek told PYMNTS in an interview published last week. “For most people, speaking is one of the most natural ways of interacting with another person. So, instead of manually clicking on buttons, interfaces that incorporate voice AI could be some of the most naturalistic we use. Instead of typing a prompt into ChatGPT, you could simply speak your request out loud.”

As the world becomes more digital, consumers expect voice technology to be more widely available, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence report “How Consumers Want to Live in the Voice Economy.”

Fifty-four percent of consumers prefer voice technology because it’s easier and faster than typing or clicking through websites. Almost half of those surveyed said they think voice tech will be as smart and reliable as humans within five years.

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