Meta has reportedly acquired WaveForms AI, an artificial intelligence audio startup known for its advanced sound synthesis and audio manipulation technology. The social media giant plans to integrate WaveForms’ team and technology into its newly created AI division called Superintelligence Labs (which primarily focuses on advanced AI research and development), reports The Information.
The team from WaveForms is now said to be working under Johan Schalkwyk, who recently joined Meta after previously working at Sesame AI (a voice AI startup). He is currently leading Meta’s efforts in voice technology, and his role is seen as an important part of the company’s overall AI strategy. The acquisition is part of Meta’s plan to improve its voice AI technology for use in virtual environments and other applications. This latest move comes weeks after Meta acquired PlayAI, another startup working in voice technology.
WaveForms was founded by Alexis Conneau (a researcher with experience at both Meta and OpenAI) and Coralie Lemaitre (a former strategist at Google). Clearly, the founders bring deep expertise in voice AI and machine learning, which has helped the startup to push the boundaries of emotional intelligence in AI speech. Their technology not only improves the clarity and realism of AI-generated voices but also focuses on making these voices capable of conveying emotion, which is a major challenge in the field.
According to the startup, its goal is to create AI voices that sound so natural and realistic that people cannot tell if they are listening to a human or a machine. They call this the ‘Speech Turing Test’. So far, the company has raised around $40 million in funding from several prominent investors, including Andreessen Horowitz. These acquisitions of voice AI startups, first PlayAI and now WaveForms, show Meta’s intention to create more immersive and natural interactions on its various platforms (like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and more), especially in the growing Metaverse. These developments become even more noteworthy since CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently revealed plans to build ‘Personal Superintelligence‘, which will be designed to act as a personalized AI assistant for each individual.
However, while such technology is exciting, it also raises important ethical concerns. Highly realistic AI voices can be misused to create deepfakes or spread misinformation. Therefore, ensuring transparency and responsible development is essential as this technology advances. Considering the current trend, this latest acquisition is also seen as another effort by Meta to attract top AI talent from the sector. Actually, in recent months, the Mark Zuckerberg-led company has faced criticism for aggressively recruiting top AI researchers from companies like OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Anthropic, and more. For example, in June 2025, the social media behemoth invested about $14.3 billion into Scale AI and hired its CEO, Alexandr Wang, to lead Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). Earlier, the company announced plans to invest a massive $65 billion in AI infrastructure in 2025.