Mark Zuckerburg Is At It Again, This Time He Wants His AI to Actually Sound Human (For Once)

“Can’t stop won’t stop…” - Mark Z. 

Mark Zuckerburg has a fever, and the only medicine appears to be lighting cash on fire with more AI splurges. Case in point: Meta is is reportedly trying to buy PlayAI, a voice AI startup from Palo Alto to ensure his AI doesn’t talk or sound like it’s been held hostage in a TurboTax call center since 2008. 

(Source: Giphy) 

The deed isn't done, of course, but Bloomberg says Zuck is definitely looking to dip his proverbial pen into PlayAI’s tech and talent teams. The goal is to insert Play AI's voice tech into Meta’s new product line of Prada, Oakley, and Essilor smart glasses as if he’s preparing for the world’s most insufferable Ted Talk. And investors, as usual, heard “Meta" and “AI” in the same sentence and immediately started foaming at the mouth. Shares boomed 2% on the day. 

(Source: StockTwits) 

Now to the part that we already know. Meta’s been on an AI shopping spree that’s starting to look less “strategic” and more like a Zuckerburg midlife crisis. They already dropped $14.3 billion on Scale AI this month, and then just straight-up thirst trapped Scale’s CEO to join the “superintelligence” team. Additionally, Zuck has been “trying” to poach AI researchers from OpenAI, Google, and Sesame AI is like he’s building a Noah’s Ark for overpaid machine learning engineers. In fact, Marky Mark has even tried to cop Perplexity, however, while the two parties talked… they failed to come to a deal (presumably because Perplexity caught wind that Tim Apple was sniffing around). 

(Source: Bloomberg) 

But alas, PlayAI’s (fresh off a $21 million raise) whole schtick is that their technology is making voice AI that’s “as natural as human conversation.” Which is cool, and can only add to the hype of Meta’s product line. Meaning, if PlayAI actually delivers, Meta might finally have an AI voice that doesn’t sound like it’s reading ransom notes off a teleprompter. And if that happens, then we are off to the races.

Especially considering that Meta’s stock is up a disgusting 41% over the past year… and that’s after he’s shown the risk tolerance of a coked-up poker player.  Meaning, as long as Zuck keeps whispering “AI” into the void, the market will keep throwing money at him with the memory of a goldfish. 

(Source: Giphy) 

In the end, Meta’s burning cash like it’s got a personal vendetta against liquidity, and Zuck’s one acquisition away from triggering a primetime cage-match fight between himself and Sam Altman (who is currently big mad considering three OpenAI employees presumably took Zuck up on his $100m offer). But hey, you have to give Mark credit… the guy knows you have to risk it to get the biscuit these days. Much respect for that.

As for investors, keep your eyes on any more updates regarding this acquisition, and place your bets accordingly. Until next time, friends… 

At the time of publishing, Stocks.News holds positions in Meta and Google as mentioned in the article.