Meta acquires AI audio startup WaveForms, boosting Superintelligence Labs

According to a report by The Information, Meta has acquired WaveForms, a nascent artificial intelligence audio startup, for an undisclosed sum. This move marks Meta’s latest strategic investment to bolster its new AI division, Superintelligence Labs, and is the company’s second significant AI audio acquisition within the past month, following its purchase of PlayAI.

WaveForms, an exceptionally young company founded just eight months ago, had already made considerable waves in the tech funding landscape. PitchBook data indicates that the startup successfully raised $40 million from prominent venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz in a funding round that valued the firm at $160 million even before the investment. This rapid valuation underscores the intense interest and perceived potential in its specialized AI capabilities.

A key aspect of the acquisition is the reported transfer of two of WaveForms’ co-founders to Meta. Alexis Conneau, a former researcher at both Meta and OpenAI, brings a wealth of experience, notably having co-created the advanced voice mode neural networks for GPT-4o during his time at OpenAI. Joining him is Coralie Lemaitre, another co-founder with a background as a strategist at Google’s advertising division. The status of WaveForms’ third co-founder and chief technologist, Kartikay Khandelwal, along with the approximately 14 other staffers, remains unconfirmed following the acquisition.

WaveForms’ mission revolved around highly sophisticated challenges in AI audio. The company was dedicated to solving what it termed the “Speech Turing Test,” an ambitious endeavor aiming to develop AI-generated speech so indistinguishable from human speech that listeners cannot tell the difference. Beyond this, WaveForms was also reportedly developing “Emotional General Intelligence,” a field focused on enabling AI to understand and manage individual self-awareness and emotions. As a typical sign of an acquisition, WaveForms has since taken down its public website, though its LinkedIn profile previously detailed these advanced objectives. This acquisition highlights Meta’s aggressive push to secure top talent and cutting-edge technology in the rapidly evolving domain of AI-driven audio and voice capabilities.