Meta acquires voice startup Play AI

Meta acquires voice startup Play AI

Meta has acquired Play AI, a startup that uses AI to generate human-sounding voices. A Meta spokesperson has confirmed the acquisition, according to Bloomberg, which also reports that an internal memo stated that the “entire PlayAI team” will be joining the company next week. (TechCrunch has also reached out to Meta for confirmation.) Meta’s memo…

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Hengbot’s AI LLM-Powered Open-Source Robot Dog is cheaper than an iPhone

Hengbot’s AI LLM-Powered Open-Source Robot Dog is cheaper than an iPhone

Remember when robot dogs were either $75,000 industrial marvels that could open doors for the military, or $300 STEM kits that shuffled around like arthritic spiders? That middle ground between “mortgage your house” and “mildly entertaining paperweight” remained frustratingly empty, leaving most of us to admire Boston Dynamics videos from afar while wondering when we’d…

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xAI and Grok apologize for ‘horrific behavior’

xAI and Grok apologize for ‘horrific behavior’

In a series of posts on X, the AI chatbot Grok apologized for what it admitted was “horrific behavior.” The posts appear to be an official statement from xAI, the Elon Musk-led company behind Grok, as opposed to an AI-generated explanation for Grok’s posts. (xAI recently acquired X, where Grok is prominently featured.) Grok’s latest…

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