ElevenLabs CEO Mati Staniszewski envisions voice technology emerging as the primary interface for artificial intelligence, transforming the way users interact with machines beyond traditional text and screens. He predicts a future where “all our phones will go back in our pockets,” allowing voice to serve as the key mechanism for technological interaction, fostering immersion in the real world.
This forward-thinking approach is underscored by ElevenLabs’s recent $500 million fundraising round, which elevates the company’s valuation to $11 billion. This vision is not isolated, as industry leaders like OpenAI and Google are also prioritizing voice in their upcoming AI models. Meanwhile, Apple is enhancing its voice-focused technologies through strategic acquisitions, such as Q.ai. As AI is integrated into wearables and cars, the paradigm shifts from touch to voice, marking a significant competitive landscape for AI advancements.
Seth Pierrepont, a general partner at Iconiq Capital, supports this perspective, emphasizing that while screens will remain vital for gaming and entertainment, traditional input methods, such as keyboards, are becoming outdated. He highlights a shift towards more agentic AI systems that will require less explicit input from users, enabled by improved context and memory.
Staniszewski elaborates on this transformation, suggesting future voice interfaces will rely on accumulated context, making user interactions more intuitive and effortless. This evolution is expected to influence the deployment of voice models, as ElevenLabs aims for a hybrid approach that combines cloud capabilities with on-device processing to facilitate seamless voice integration in everyday hardware, such as headphones and wearables.
Moreover, ElevenLabs is collaborating with Meta to implement its voice technology across platforms like Instagram and Horizon Worlds, and Staniszewski is open to extending this partnership to Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, as voice-driven interfaces evolve into new formats.
However, with the increasing integration of voice technology into daily life, significant concerns about privacy, surveillance, and data management arise, particularly as companies like Google face scrutiny over data exploitation in voice systems.
