Meta Acquires Play AI to Enhance Voice Interfaces

by MarketNewsData
  • Deal Closure: Meta finalized the acquisition of Play AI between July 11–13, 2025.
  • Startup Focus: Play AI specializes in:
    • Realistic voice cloning
    • Multilingual, low-latency text-to-speech (TTS)
    • Emotion-rich conversational voice models
  • Team Transition:
    • Entire Play AI team will join Meta.
    • Will report to Johan Schalkwyk, Meta’s new speech AI head (formerly led Google’s voice initiatives).
  • Strategic Objective:
    • Power Meta’s next-gen voice interfaces across:
      • Meta AI
      • AI Characters
      • WhatsApp voice chat
      • Instagram and wearable devices (AR/VR)
  • Competitive Positioning:
    • Positions Meta to compete with Google Gemini Voice, OpenAI Voice Mode, and Anthropic’s Claude Voice.
  • Broader AI Push:
    • Builds on Meta’s recent Scale AI acquisition.
    • Strengthens its Superintelligence Labs and Reality Labs capabilities in AI infrastructure and human-AI interaction.
  • Financial Terms: Not publicly disclosed.

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