Meta is back on the AI acquisition trail, and this time, it’s all about voice.
The company has officially acquired PlayAI, a fast-rising voice AI startup known for creating synthetic voices that sound remarkably human. The full PlayAI team, including founders Mahmoud Felfel and Hammad Syed, will be joining Meta next week, per an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg.
PlayAI started as a humble Chrome extension that read articles out loud. But it quickly evolved into a full-fledged voice AI platform capable of building lifelike text-to-speech models and voice agents in over 30 languages. Its mini model, Play 3.0, powers everything from customer support to appointment scheduling.
Key Takeaways:
- Meta acquires PlayAI, a 2024-founded voice startup backed by Y Combinator.
- Voice AI is key to Meta’s vision for wearables, AI assistants, and VR.
- The PlayAI team joins Meta’s Superintelligence Lab under voice tech veteran Johan Schalkwyk.
- Follows trend of acquihires in the AI race—similar to Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.
Meta’s investment isn’t just about adding tech—it’s about locking in top-tier AI talent as the company tries to reverse its recent AI missteps. Its latest Llama 4 model was widely seen as underwhelming, and many of its original AI researchers have jumped ship.
The acquisition of PlayAI signals Meta’s ongoing strategy of buying innovation rather than building it all from scratch. And with voice interfaces becoming central to smart glasses, virtual assistants, and future devices, this move couldn’t come at a more crucial time.
PlayAI’s ability to rapidly generate ultra-realistic voices gives Meta a serious edge in the race to make its AI characters more interactive, human, and emotionally resonant.
The team will report to Johan Schalkwyk, a major recent hire who previously helped lead Google’s language expansion and Sesame AI’s voice efforts. Now at Meta’s Superintelligence Lab, Schalkwyk is tasked with making the company’s voice AI a global leader.
With Ray-Ban smart glasses gaining traction and AI wearables on the rise, Meta’s bet on PlayAI could be the missing piece in its next-gen product puzzle.