However, PlayAI has faced criticism for its lax approach to safety, especially with its voice cloning tool, which could potentially be used for scams and deepfakes. The company claims to have ethical safeguards in place and responds to reports of unauthorized voice cloning. PlayAI's training data sources for its AI models remain undisclosed, and it does not commit to defending users in case of legal threats. Despite these challenges and competition from other tech companies, PlayAI recently secured a $20 million seed round led by Kindred Ventures, bringing its total capital raised to $21 million.
Key takeaways:
- PlayAI, a company co-founded by Hammad Syed and Mahmoud Felfel, offers text-to-speech and voice cloning tools for individuals and organizations to create realistic audio content.
- The company has recently introduced an 'AI agents' feature that can automate tasks such as answering customer calls at a business.
- PlayAI has faced criticism for its lack of enforcement mechanisms in its voice cloning tool, raising concerns about potential misuse for scams and deepfakes.
- The company recently closed a $20 million seed round led by Kindred Ventures, with plans to invest in their generative AI voice models and voice agent platform, and expand its workforce.