Kyutai unveils the very first voice-enabled AI openly accessible to all

In just 6 months, with a team of just 8 staff, the Kyutai research lab developed, from scratch an artificial intelligence (AI) model with unprecedented vocal capabilities called Moshi.

The new experimental prototype AI, was publicly unveiled in Paris yesterday. The interactive demo of the AI will be accessible from the Kyutai website as of 4 July where it can be freely tested online as from today, which constitutes a world first for a generative voice AI.

This new type of technology is the first to make it possible to communicate in a smooth, natural and expressive way with an AI. During the presentation, the Kyutai team interacted with Moshi to illustrate its potential as a coach or companion for example, and also demonstrated its creativity through the incarnation of characters in role-plays.

The new generative AI has the potential to revolutionize the use of speech in the digital world. As an example, its text-to-speech capabilities are advanced beyond what has been achieved with previous Voice Ai generation in terms of emotion and interaction between multiple voices.

Compact, Moshi can also be installed locally and therefore run safely on an unconnected device.

 Kyutai has stated its intent to contribute to open research in AI and to the development of the entire ecosystem. The code and weights of the models will soon be freely shared, which is also unprecedented for such technology.

This open access should prove to be invaluable within African Tech Start-ups and will be useful both to researchers in the field and to developers working on voice-based products and services. One of the major hurdles for voice recognition software in Africa is the lack of research on underrepresented languages. New tech like Moshi could play a big role in developing new language models for voice activated assistants and other Voice Ai products.

This technology can be studied in depth, modified, extended or specialized according to the developer or project needs, and as a free service should play a big role in developing voice related AI products for Africa that are starting to develop.

Some of the top language Ai companies in Africa are Vula Vula, GotBot, MyManu and Bothlale Ai.