ElevenLabs is on a mission to make computers speak. The three-year-old voice AI startup, which tripled in value to $3.3 billion in the past year, has a vision to make AI-enabled audio talk in every language on Earth. “We want to be the voice of the technology around us,” says Mati Staniszewski, the CEO who founded the company with his close friend of 15 years, Piotr Dabkowski.
On the ElevenLabs creative audio platform, users can clone their voices to speak different languages and provide voiceovers for movies, audiobooks, and videogames; meanwhile, the company’s conversational AI tech provides voices enterprises can use for real-time interactions in domains like customer service and sales. The startup currently works with more than 1,000 companies, comprising 60% of the Fortune 500, and has paid out $5 million to the roughly 5,000 creators whose voices the company has licensed.
Recent highlights for ElevenLabs AI voice technology range from appearing in Congress to the videogame Fortnite. Last July, ElevenLabs enabled Virginia congresswoman Jennifer Wexton, who had lost her voice to a rare neurological disorder, to address the U.S. House—the first use of an AI voice in government. And in May, in partnership with James Earl Jones’ estate, it was used to bring Darth Vader’s voice to Fortnite, allowing millions of players to converse with the late Sith lord.
With offices in London, New York, Warsaw, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Bangalore, and a bevy of licensing deals for famous deceased voices from Judy Garland to Richard Feynman, ElevenLabs has no intention of slowing down. “The dream was to create a generational company,” says Staniszewski, adding that this ambition feels more achievable with each passing day. Being at the frontier of audio, “we treat it as a responsibility to some extent,” he says, “but more it’s like, how many chances in your life do you have to do something like this?”
Disclosure: TIME has a technology partnership with ElevenLabs. Investors in ElevenLabs include Salesforce, where TIME co-chair and owner Marc Benioff is CEO.
