Meta Platforms has reportedly acquired WaveForms AI, a startup that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to understand and replicate emotion in audio.
Co-founded by Alexis Conneau (formerly of Meta and OpenAI) and Coralie Lemaitre (formerly of Google), WaveForms AI debuted in December 2024 and raised $40 million in funding led by Andreessen Horowitz.
This marks the company’s second major AI audio acquisition, reinforcing its push into immersive and emotionally expressive voice interactions for platforms like the metaverse and virtual assistants.
According to the several reports, the WaveForms AI acquisition, terms undisclosed, brings the founders into Meta’s Superintelligence Labs, a newly formed AI division aimed at developing advanced, human-like audio interactions.
This move comes amid Meta’s broader talent acquisition campaign, following its recent purchases of PlayAI and ScaleAI, and high-profile hires from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.
Meta’s recent focus on acquiring voice AI startups underscores its effort to close a noticeable gap in its AI capabilities. While the company is reportedly developing real-time, two-way voice interactions for its chatbot, it still lags behind key competitors.
Both OpenAI and Google have already launched advanced, natural-sounding voice features in ChatGPT and Gemini, respectively, setting a higher bar for conversational AI that Meta has yet to meet.
As per the reports, Meta is ramping up its infrastructure investments to fuel its artificial intelligence ambitions. The company is securing $29 billion in financing to expand data center capacity in rural Louisiana, part of its broader AI infrastructure build-out, including massive facilities like Prometheus and Hyperion.
