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Mark Zuckerberg's AI shopping spree continues, Meta buys voice startup PlayAI: Story in 5 points

Mark Zuckerberg's AI shopping spree continues, Meta buys voice startup PlayAI: Story in 5 points

India Today14-07-2025
Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has acquired a small AI startup called PlayAI as part of its growing efforts to lead the artificial intelligence race. PlayAI focuses on voice technology, and its team will officially become part of Meta next week, according to an internal memo reviewed by Bloomberg. Here is the full story in 5 points.advertisementMark Zuckerberg's AI shopping spree continues, Meta buys voice startup PlayAI: Story in 5 points-Meta has purchased a new voice-cloning startup called PlayAI. This move highlights Meta's ongoing expansion into different areas of AI. The PlayAI team is expected to work on several voice-related projects, including AI Characters, Meta AI, audio tools, and wearables. Their expertise in building natural-sounding voices and platforms for voice creation fits into Meta's larger roadmap to bring more AI-based features across its products. While Meta has confirmed the acquisition, it has not revealed how much it paid for PlayAI. The startup's team will now report to Johan Schalkwyk, a recent Meta recruit who earlier worked at another voice-focused company, Sesame AI.-This deal is the latest in a series of bold steps taken by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has declared AI as the company's top priority this year. Meta has already poured billions into building AI infrastructure like chips, data centres, and advanced models. In fact, just last month, the company reportedly invested $14.3 billion in another AI firm, Scale AI. Along with that, Meta hired Scale AI's CEO, Alexandr Wang, to lead its new division called Meta Superintelligence Labs.
-The new lab is part of Zuckerberg's larger vision to develop AI systems that are even more advanced than human intelligence. By bringing companies like PlayAI and Scale AI under its umbrella, Meta is trying to speed up this mission.-PlayAI may be a smaller startup, but its work in voice AI is valuable. Meta plans to use this technology in many ways—whether it's to improve AI assistants, make its wearable devices smarter, or offer new voice tools for creators and users. As AI becomes more central to how people interact with technology, voice-based features are likely to play a bigger role.-This isn't the first time Meta has shown interest in voice or language-based AI. The company has been testing and rolling out AI assistants across its platforms, and this acquisition suggests more such tools are on the way. So far, Meta has not shared detailed plans about how or when users will start seeing the impact of the PlayAI deal.- Ends
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