Meta is reportedly discussing the acquisition of PlayAI, a voice generation software. The deal would involve Meta’s gain of some PlayAI technological features and employees.
With PlayAI’s technology, Meta could boost the abilities of its AI assistant. The voice generation capabilities could advance chatbots on Meta applications like Instagram and Facebook.
On Meta social media platforms, enterprises can create their own chatbot through the Meta AI studio. The Meta AI chatbot also offers users video editing tools. In the future, this could include voice features as well.
Meta produces smartglasses in collaboration with brands Oakley and Ray-Ban. These accessories offer features such as video calling, image capturing, and music streaming. The glasses are integrated with an AI assistant initiated by the “Hey Meta” command.
Users can ask the glasses about things they are seeing and translate text in real time.
The PlayAI acquisition would also include Meta using its tech to improve the smartglasses’ voice features.
PlayAI offers multiple models. Its Dialog model generates conversations in varying formats. This includes “podcast” episodes or dramatic narrations. Voice agents can also be built within the platform, with different voices suited for different applications – such as advertising, education, and entertainment.
The deal between the companies has not been finalised.
Meta’s AI Surge
Meta is working to supercharge its AI offering. The company recently invested billions into startup Scale AI to improve its model training.
Meta also considered acquiring Perplexity AI, an AI-powered search engine.
Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg vocalised hopes of rivalling other AI developers like OpenAI. In April, Zuckerberg told staff Meta would develop a model that would bridge this gap through conversation AI.
The model, Llama 4, did not meet public expectations. The large language model lacked the voice abilities developers were expecting.
