We recently spoke to Matt Lehmann, the Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Product for Aflorithmic, about recent developments at the company, including their seed financing for $1.3M from strategic investor Crown Media Holdings. 
 
We hear all about Clubhouse and podcasts in the news, but synthetic audio is another player in the fast-growing audio space that deserves some attention, which is what Aflorithmic does.
 
Voice cloning technology = ‘synthetic audio’
Matt explained that Aflorithmic is focused on automated and scalable audio production by using AI-driven synthetic audio.  Basically, what the company does is use AI to clone voice.  This is typically accomplished using text-to-speech AI that is like an NLP program that converts to voice which is what Alexa and Siri use.
 
The cloned voice can then be audio mastered and delivered to people’s ears using an API to websites, mobile apps or other distribution points.
 
Use cases
Some of Aflorithmic’s current customers are using its tools for the following per our conversation with Matt:

• Audio books for kids.  Kids can now be the main protagonist in stories, and they can be read by a family member or loved one who lives too far away to visit.
   
• Personal workout coach.  AI-driven voice in your favorite workout app that keeps you informed and motivated.
   
• Celebrity voiceovers.  Using celebrity voices to talk to each of their followers or sell products.

In fact, the last point was a major reason that Crowd Media, an Australian e-commerce company, made its investment into the company.  Leveraging Aflorithmic’s AI voice synthesis and audio production automation allows for the replication of a celebrity’s accent, tone and mannerisms which Crowd wants to use in its e-commerce business, per a press release issued by Crowd Media.
 
Timo Kunz, the Co-founder and CEO of Aflorithmic also weighed in and said:

• “We are excited to learn from Crowd’s experience in empowering companies to reach mass markets and are pleased to accompany them as they define the future of social commerce.  We believe audio creation as we know it is making way for automated, scalable, dynamic audio experiences - and companies like ours are at the forefront.” 

Scale and automation
At the end of the day, we all know that audio is hot and in demand from consumers, but the problem is scalability.  As Matt explained, you still need to have a recording studio, hire voice talent, find the right music and mix the entire thing.
 
With Aflorithmic, AI handles the heavy lifting and makes the entire process seamless, scalable and plug-and-play.

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