Latest news with #JohanSchalkwyk
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta's AI Push Grows with PlayAI Deal, Instagram Engagement Hits New High
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is a . On July 11, Citizens JMP analyst Andrew Boone reiterated a Market Outperform rating on the stock with a $750.00 price target. The firm is optimistic about Meta following information that Instagram's global time spent growth accelerated in June, growing 11.9% year-over-year. This implies a 100 basis point improvement from May. The research note highlighted that this growth acceleration comes despite tougher one-year and two-year comparisons for the social media platform. Instagram's growth was even more phenomenal in the United States, accelerating to 17.4% year-over-year in June. It seems that it is also successfully consolidating short-form video engagement, which is why the firm noted that the platform's comparison metrics will ease meaningfully from July through the end of the year. In other news, Bloomberg reported that Meta has completed a deal to acquire PlayAI, an artificial intelligence startup focused on voice technology. The PlayAI team will be joining Meta this week and will be reporting to Johan Schalkwyk. Schalkwyk recently joined Meta from a voice AI startup called Sesame AI Inc. While we acknowledge the potential of META as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and Disclosure: None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Entrepreneur
a day ago
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Meta Acquires PlayAI, Startup Generating Human-Like Voices
Through the acquisition, Meta is adding fresh talent to its ranks and bringing over the startup's 35 employees. In the latest chapter in Meta's AI buying and hiring spree, Meta has acquired AI voice cloning startup PlayAI. Meta confirmed the acquisition to Bloomberg, but didn't state the deal's value. According to an internal memo leaked to Bloomberg, the "entire PlayAI team," around 35 people, will join Meta this week. They will report to Johan Schalkwyk, a former speech AI researcher at Google who recently joined Meta from another AI voice startup called Sesame AI. PlayAI's core product is a voice cloning tool that can generate human-sounding voices. The startup has partnered with companies like Walgreens and Salesforce to create voice agents for businesses that are available to answer questions, handle transactions, and schedule appointments. Related: 'The Market Is Hot': Here's How Much a Typical Meta Employee Makes in a Year PlayAI's "work in creating natural voices, along with a platform for easy voice creation, is a great match for our work and road map, across AI Characters, Meta AI, Wearables, and audio content creation," Meta wrote in the leaked memo. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at Meta Connect in September 2024. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images Meta has been hiring and acquiring AI talent aggressively in recent months. In June, the company made one of its biggest investments yet, pouring $14.3 billion into AI data training startup Scale AI in exchange for a 49% stake in the startup and access to new talent. The deal brought Scale AI's former CEO, Alexandr Wang, to Meta as its new Chief AI Officer and head of a new team focused on developing superintelligence, or AI that surpasses human intelligence. Meta is paying top dollar to assemble a group of about 50 experts who will work to develop superintelligence with the aim of one day bringing it to Meta's products, including its AI smart glasses and chatbot. Scale AI's valuation more than doubled after the investment, rising from $14 billion to $29 billion. Meta has also been poaching AI researchers and engineers from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic for its new superintelligence team with competitive compensation, which can go up to nine figures. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, 41, announced last month that former Google DeepMind researchers Jack Rae and Pei Sun and former OpenAI staff Trapit Bansal and Hongyu Ren would be joining the superintelligence team. Additionally, new details emerged last week that Meta is reportedly compensating former Apple engineer Ruoming Pang more than $200 million across several years to join its superintelligence effort — more than double the $74.6 million Apple CEO Tim Cook made last year. Related: Meta Invests Billions in World's Largest Eyewear Company After Ray-Ban Smart Glasses Success Meta stock was up over 19% year-to-date at the time of writing. The company has a market value of $1.81 trillion, making it the sixth largest in the world by market capitalization.
Business Insider
a day ago
- Business
- Business Insider
M&A News: Meta Buys Voice AI Startup PlayAI to Boost Wearables and Apps
Meta Platforms (META) has acquired voice artificial intelligence (AI) startup PlayAI to strengthen its AI offerings. PlayAI specializes in generating human-like voices that can be used in a variety of apps, including content creation and customer support. The news was first reported by Bloomberg, citing an internal memo. The financial details of the deal remain unknown at the moment. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Make smarter investment decisions with TipRanks' Smart Investor Picks, delivered to your inbox every week. Why Does Meta's Acquisition of PlayAI Matter? Meta plans to leverage PlayAI's voice AI expertise in enhancing its AI Characters, Meta AI, Wearables, and audio content creation. According to the memo, the entire PlayAI team is expected to join Meta next week and will report to Johan Schalkwyk, who was recently hired from another voice AI startup, Sesame AI. The memo also stated that PlayAI's 'work in creating natural voices, along with a platform for easy voice creation, is a great match for our work and road map.' PlayAI uses large language models (LLMs) that are trained on hundreds of millions of real-life conversations to create advanced, natural-sounding voice AI models. PlayAI's latest models support over 30 languages, offering low-latency and high-quality voice cloning. Meta Is on an AI Hiring Spree Meta is aggressively pursuing leadership in AI, rapidly hiring top talent and entire teams to build its Superintelligence Labs and compete with rivals like OpenAI, Google (GOOGL), and Anthropic. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is personally involved in recruiting top AI executives, and the company is committed to investing billions in AI infrastructure. Meta has weakened rival teams by hiring their top AI talent such as Ruoming Pang, formerly of Apple (AAPL), and OpenAI researcher Trapit Bansal. The company reportedly attracted these executives with compensation packages exceeding $100 million annually. Is META Stock a Buy? Analysts remain highly optimistic about Meta Platforms' long-term stock outlook. On TipRanks, META stock has a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 41 Buys and four Hold ratings. Also, the average Meta Platforms price target of $735.21 implies 2.5% upside potential from current levels. Year-to-date, META stock has gained 22.8%.
Hans India
a day ago
- Business
- Hans India
Mark Zuckerberg's AI Push Accelerates as Meta Acquires Voice Startup PlayAI
Meta's aggressive push in artificial intelligence continues, with the company acquiring a voice technology startup named PlayAI. This acquisition underscores CEO Mark Zuckerberg's vision to transform Meta into a global leader in AI innovation. The PlayAI team is set to join Meta's growing AI division next week, according to an internal memo cited by Bloomberg. The startup specializes in voice cloning and voice generation, offering tools that create natural-sounding, AI-generated speech. This technology will now support a variety of Meta's projects, including AI assistants, content creation tools, and next-generation wearables. PlayAI's employees will report to Johan Schalkwyk, a recent addition to Meta's leadership who previously worked at Sesame AI, another company focused on voice technologies. Under his guidance, the PlayAI team will contribute to Meta AI initiatives such as AI Characters and audio innovation for both user and creator platforms. While the financial terms of the deal remain undisclosed, Meta has confirmed the acquisition. The company noted that PlayAI's core strengths in voice replication and platform development align with its strategy to integrate AI more deeply into user experiences across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and its hardware products. This latest deal follows a string of major moves from Meta in the AI space. Just last month, Meta invested a staggering $14.3 billion in Scale AI, a company that specializes in training data for AI systems. Along with the investment, Meta brought Scale AI's CEO, Alexandr Wang, on board to head its newly formed Meta Superintelligence Labs. This division focuses on creating advanced AI systems that aim to go beyond current human capabilities. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made it clear that artificial intelligence is Meta's top strategic priority for the year. Billions of dollars have already been funneled into building proprietary AI chips, expanding data centers, and developing powerful generative models. The acquisition of PlayAI may not match the scale of the Scale AI deal, but it represents a highly focused bet on voice technology—a rapidly growing area within AI. Voice-based features are expected to play a major role in how users interact with devices and services in the near future. From conversational assistants to voice-enabled content creation, the applications are broad and impactful. Meta has previously dabbled in language and voice-based AI tools, with experimental AI assistants being tested across platforms. This new acquisition points to a more serious and long-term commitment to voice-first AI interfaces. Despite the growing excitement, Meta hasn't released a concrete timeline for when users will begin to see PlayAI's tech integrated into its apps or devices. However, the company has made it clear that voice interaction will become a cornerstone of its AI-powered future. As the AI race intensifies among tech giants, Meta's recent moves indicate it's not just participating—it's aiming to lead. With both small and large acquisitions under its belt, Meta is steadily assembling the infrastructure and talent needed to push the boundaries of what AI can do.
Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
Meta continues acquisition spree, grabs voice AI startup PlayAI
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills Meta has acquired Play AI , an artificial intelligence startup that specialises in creating human-like to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg, the entire Play AI team will be joining Meta next week. They will report to Johan Schalkwyk, who recently moved to Meta from another voice AI startup , Sesame AI memo stated that Play AI's 'work in creating natural voices, along with a platform for easy voice creation, is a great match for our work and road map, across AI Characters, Meta AI , Wearables and audio content creation'.However, the financial details of the acquisition were not made Meta struck a similar deal, acquiring a 49% stake in Scale AI. As part of that deal, Scale AI 's CEO, Alexandr Wang, joined Meta to head a new superintelligence team Meta has been on an investment and hiring spree in AI for a few weeks now, including aggressively recruiting from OpenAI. According to a report by The Verge, Meta has hired as many as 10 leading researchers and developers from OpenAI, with some compensation packages reportedly reaching up to $300 million over four years, including Meta has disputed this is not Meta's only source for new talent. The company has also made several high-profile hires, including Daniel Gross, CEO of AI startup Safe Superintelligence; Ruoming Pang, who leads Apple's Foundation Models team; and Nat Friedman, the former CEO of GitHub.
