News/Voice
AdventHealth’s AI voice tool automates patient notes, slashing physician burnout by 86%
AdventHealth has successfully deployed DAX Copilot, an AI-powered ambient voice technology from Nuance Communications (a Microsoft subsidiary), across its 100,000-caregiver healthcare network to combat physician burnout through automated medical documentation. The implementation, which earned the organization a 2025 CIO 100 Award, demonstrates how strategic AI deployment can address the documentation burden that contributes to burnout among nearly half of US physicians. What you should know: The ambient voice system records patient conversations and automatically generates medical notes, allowing physicians to focus on patient care rather than documentation. Nearly 2,000 physicians and advanced practice providers now use the technology across AdventHealth's...
read Jun 24, 2025ElevenLabs launches 11ai voice assistant that automates tasks across apps
ElevenLabs has launched 11ai, a voice assistant that can take actions across your digital tools rather than just answer questions. The assistant integrates with Anthropic's Model Context Protocol (MCP) to connect with platforms like Slack, Google Calendar, and Perplexity, allowing users to automate tasks through voice commands while maintaining control over permissions and data access. What you should know: Unlike traditional voice assistants that are limited to answering questions, 11ai can actually execute tasks across your connected apps and services. The assistant is powered by ElevenLabs' library of more than 5,000 voices, and users can clone their own voice if...
read Jun 23, 2025Apple faces class-action lawsuit over delayed Siri AI features
Apple faces a federal securities class-action lawsuit from shareholders who claim the company knowingly promoted incomplete Siri AI features for the iPhone 16 despite lacking a functional prototype. The lawsuit, filed by shareholder Eric Tucker, targets CEO Tim Cook and current and former CFOs, alleging violations of US securities laws after Apple's stock fell in March 2025 following confirmation that advanced Siri features won't arrive until 2026. What you should know: The lawsuit represents all individuals or entities who purchased Apple shares between June 10, 2024, and June 9, 2025, seeking damages for alleged securities violations. • Filed against CEO...
read Jun 20, 2025Mercedes-Benz wins 2025 AI Impact Award for turning cars into personalized assistants, Knight Rider-style
Mercedes-Benz has won Newsweek's 2025 AI Impact Award in the Best Outcomes, Automotive/Transportation UX Systems category for transforming its vehicles into AI-powered, hyper-personalized assistants. The recognition highlights the company's new MB.OS infotainment system, which debuts with the CLA-Class model and integrates conversational AI, behavioral AI, and agentic AI to create what the company calls "the cleverest car we've ever made." What you should know: Mercedes-Benz's next-generation vehicles represent a fundamental shift from traditional luxury to intelligence-driven experiences. The CLA-Class serves as the company's first software-defined vehicle, featuring the new MB.OS operating system with integrated AI search, customizations, and recommendations. Three...
read Jun 19, 2025License to snoop, snipe? Plaud AI sells 1M voice recorders as workplace privacy debates intensify
Plaud AI has sold over one million of its voice-recording devices that use artificial intelligence to transcribe and summarize conversations in real-time. The wearable gadgets, priced at $159 each, are positioning themselves as productivity tools for corporate executives and professionals, but they're raising significant questions about workplace privacy and recording ethics as they prepare to hit Best Buy shelves this August. What you should know: Plaud offers two AI-powered recording devices designed to streamline workplace note-taking and meeting documentation. The Plaud Note slips into a phone case or shirt pocket, while the smaller Note Pin can be worn as a...
read Jun 19, 2025Google launches Search Live for real-time voice conversations with AI
Google has launched Search Live, a new voice chat feature that enables real-time conversations with Google Search through AI Mode. The feature allows users to have back-and-forth verbal exchanges with Google's search tools, similar to experiences offered by Gemini Live or ChatGPT's Advanced Voice Mode, marking Google's push to make search interactions more conversational and intuitive. How to access it: Search Live is currently available through Google Labs' AI Mode signup for US users only. Once enrolled, a Live icon appears under the Search bar in the Google app for Android and iOS as the leftmost option. Users can tap...
read Jun 16, 2025Jury acquits consultant behind AI Biden robocalls in New Hampshire
A New Hampshire jury acquitted political consultant Steven Kramer on all charges related to sending AI-generated robocalls that mimicked President Biden's voice to thousands of Democratic voters before the 2024 primary. The case represents one of the first major legal tests of how courts will handle AI-powered election interference, with implications for how similar cases might be prosecuted as artificial intelligence becomes more sophisticated and accessible. What happened: Kramer, a 56-year-old New Orleans political consultant, admitted to orchestrating the robocalls sent two days before New Hampshire's January 23, 2024, presidential primary. The AI-generated voice mimicked Biden's speech patterns and used...
read Jun 12, 2025Apple executives struggle to explain why Siri can’t compete with ChatGPT
Apple executives Craig Federighi and Greg Joswiak struggled to explain the company's continued delays in delivering a significantly improved Siri during a Wall Street Journal interview following WWDC 2025. The tech giant's AI assistant remains far behind competitors like ChatGPT, despite promises of major upgrades that were later retracted due to reliability concerns. The big picture: Apple's cautious approach to AI development has left it trailing significantly behind competitors who have already deployed conversational AI tools, raising questions about whether the company's perfectionist standards are hindering innovation in a rapidly evolving market. What went wrong: Apple's attempt at a conversational...
read Jun 12, 2025Siri-ously delayed: Apple pushes Siri AI improvements to 2026
Apple executives have confirmed that Siri's long-awaited AI upgrades will not arrive until 2026, providing the most specific timeline yet for features that were originally planned for iOS 18. The confirmation comes from Greg "Joz" Joswiak, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, during a recent interview with Tom's Guide, marking a significant delay that pushes the enhanced Siri capabilities well beyond this year and likely into spring 2026 with iOS 26.4. What you should know: Apple has been deliberately vague about Siri's AI upgrade timeline until now, using phrases like "in the coming year" without committing to specific dates....
read Jun 12, 2025Klarna CEO launches AI hotline with his own likeness for direct customer feedback
Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski has launched an AI-powered phone hotline that allows customers and merchants to speak directly with an AI version of himself for feedback and questions. The system is trained on Siemiatkowski's "real voice, insights, and experiences" and automatically processes calls into actionable insights for Klarna's product teams, with the company claiming issues could translate into improvements within 24 hours. How it works: The AI hotline creates an interactive experience where users can provide feedback about Klarna's products and services while speaking to a digital clone of the CEO. • Customers and merchants can discuss product features, issues,...
read Jun 12, 2025Political consultant facing prison time for AI Biden robocalls has no regrets
A political consultant from New Orleans testified that he has no regrets about orchestrating AI-generated robocalls that mimicked President Biden's voice, claiming his actions were intended to highlight the dangers of artificial intelligence rather than suppress votes. Steven Kramer, 56, faces decades in prison on charges of voter suppression and impersonating a candidate for the calls sent to thousands of New Hampshire voters just days before the state's 2024 Democratic primary. What you should know: The robocalls used AI to replicate Biden's voice and catchphrase "What a bunch of malarkey," telling recipients to save their votes for the November election...
read Jun 10, 2025SAG-AFTRA secures AI guardrails in tentative video game contract deal
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), Hollywood's union for video game performers, has reached a tentative contract agreement with major video game companies that could end an 11-month strike over artificial intelligence protections. The strike, which began in July 2024, centered on performers' concerns that unregulated AI could be used to replicate their voices and likenesses without consent, potentially displacing human talent in the gaming industry. What you should know: The tentative deal includes AI guardrails that SAG-AFTRA says will protect performers' livelihoods in the digital age. Union members struck against major gaming companies including...
read Jun 9, 2025Apple unveils 15 major accessibility features including brain computer interface
Apple unveiled a comprehensive suite of accessibility enhancements coming to iOS, macOS, iPadOS, and watchOS later this year, coinciding with Global Accessibility Awareness Day. These updates represent some of the most significant accessibility improvements in recent Apple history, introducing entirely new capabilities alongside meaningful upgrades to existing features. The announcement, made ahead of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, showcases the company's continued commitment to making technology more inclusive. From breakthrough features like Brain Computer Interface support to practical improvements like system-wide reading modes, these updates will meaningfully impact how millions of users interact with their devices. 15 major accessibility features coming...
read Jun 6, 2025Hume AI’s EVI 3 creates emotionally intelligent voices that beat GPT-4o. Here’s how to use it.
Hume AI has quietly emerged as a formidable player in the voice synthesis space, offering something most competitors lack: the ability to create AI voices that actually sound emotionally intelligent. Unlike traditional text-to-speech systems that produce robotic, monotone output, Hume's platform reads emotional cues from human speech and responds with appropriate tonal variations, creating conversations that feel genuinely natural. The company's latest release, EVI 3 (Empathic Voice Interface 3), represents a significant leap forward in voice AI technology. This model captures the full spectrum of human vocal expressions and speaking styles within a single system, allowing users to design completely...
read Jun 5, 2025AI robocall impersonator faces trial for fake Biden calls
The trial of a political consultant who used AI-generated Biden robocalls to manipulate voters highlights the growing intersection of artificial intelligence and electoral integrity. This landmark legal case tests both New Hampshire's voter suppression laws and raises broader questions about AI regulation in politics, as states increasingly grapple with technology that can convincingly impersonate candidates and potentially interfere with democratic processes. The big picture: Political consultant Steven Kramer faces 11 felony charges and 11 misdemeanors for sending AI-generated robocalls impersonating President Biden before the January 2024 New Hampshire primary. The calls falsely told voters they should skip the primary and...
read Jun 4, 2025AI agents achieve 99% accuracy in Phonely’s customer service
A breakthrough partnership between Phonely, Maitai, and Groq has achieved a major advancement in conversational AI by virtually eliminating the awkward delays that typically reveal when customers are speaking with AI systems. Their collaborative solution has dramatically reduced AI response times by over 70% while simultaneously increasing accuracy to 99.2%, outperforming even GPT-4o's benchmark of 94.7% and fundamentally transforming the economics and effectiveness of AI-powered customer service. The big picture: The three-company collaboration has solved one of conversational AI's most persistent problems—the noticeable delays that make machine conversations feel unnatural and robotic. By developing "zero-latency LoRA hotswapping" technology, Groq has...
read Jun 2, 2025ElevenLabs launches advanced AI voice agents for conversations
ElevenLabs' Conversational AI 2.0 marks a significant evolution in voice agent technology, introducing advanced capabilities that make AI interactions more natural and effective. Released just five months after the original platform, this update delivers enterprise-ready features designed to create more sophisticated and trustworthy AI communications. The new system combines human-like conversation capabilities with enhanced knowledge integration and operational efficiency, positioning it as a comprehensive solution for businesses seeking to deploy advanced voice AI. The big picture: ElevenLabs has engineered more natural human-AI interactions through custom models that make conversations flow more intuitively. The new turn-taking model analyzes conversational cues like...
read May 23, 2025ScotRail riders push back on new AI-generated voice announcer Iona
ScotRail's introduction of an AI-generated voice announcer named Iona has sparked mixed reactions among Scottish train passengers. This deployment represents a significant shift in how public transportation systems are incorporating synthetic voice technology, balancing cost efficiency with the cultural importance of regional accents. The controversy highlights broader tensions around AI replacing traditionally human roles, particularly in contexts where local dialect and pronunciation carry cultural significance. The big picture: ScotRail has implemented a synthetic Scottish-accented voice called Iona to deliver station announcements, replacing pre-recorded human voice artists. The AI-generated voice, developed by ReadSpeaker, reads out typed messages entered by train drivers....
read May 22, 2025Melania Trump partners with ElevenLabs to launch AI audiobook
Melania Trump has embraced AI technology for her memoir's audiobook release, partnering with ElevenLabs to create an AI-generated version of her voice. This collaboration represents a significant intersection of celebrity publishing and artificial intelligence, potentially setting a precedent for how public figures might leverage voice synthesis technology to expand their reach across multiple languages and platforms. The big picture: Former First Lady Melania Trump has released an AI-narrated audiobook version of her memoir "Melania," using a synthetic replica of her own voice created by AI startup ElevenLabs. The $25 audiobook launched May 22 in English, with versions in Spanish, Portuguese,...
read May 22, 2025Gaming YouTuber claims AI voice cloning has taken the words right out of his mouth
YouTube gaming commentator Mark Brown is facing an increasingly common problem in the AI era: someone has stolen his voice. A channel called Game Offline Lore published videos using an AI-generated version of Brown's distinctive British voice, creating content he never narrated or authorized. This incident highlights how AI voice cloning is enabling a new form of identity theft that goes beyond traditional content plagiarism to appropriate someone's actual vocal identity. The big picture: A YouTube channel is using an AI clone of gaming commentator Mark Brown's voice without permission, representing a disturbing evolution of digital identity theft. The unauthorized...
read May 22, 2025AI brings Orson Welles back as virtual tour guide
Orson Welles returns as an AI-generated voice nearly four decades after his death, bringing his iconic vocal presence to location-based storytelling app Storyrabbit. This partnership between podcast company Treefort Media and the Orson Welles Estate represents a growing trend of reviving cultural icons through AI voice technology, blending nostalgia with cutting-edge tech to create new forms of interactive entertainment experiences. How it works: Storyrabbit generates personalized 60-90 second audio stories about specific locations, delivered by the host of your choice, including the newly added Welles voice option. The app uses your current location or a selected point of interest to...
read May 22, 2025Amazon AI summarizes products into audio snippets for shoppers
Amazon is bringing AI-generated audio product overviews to its shopping experience, allowing customers to listen to key features instead of just reading them. This feature represents Amazon's continued push to enhance shopping with AI technologies, similar to its existing AI assistants and review summaries. The audio highlights aim to recreate the in-store experience of having a salesperson explain products, potentially addressing customer pain points around product research. The big picture: Amazon has begun testing AI-powered audio summaries for select products through a new "Hear the highlights" button that lets customers listen to product features instead of reading them. How it...
read May 21, 2025Volvo to pioneer Google’s Gemini AI in vehicles
Volvo's strategic partnership with Google positions the automaker at the forefront of automotive AI integration, making it among the first to replace Google Assistant with Gemini in their vehicles. This collaboration elevates Volvo to become Google's reference hardware for Android Automotive development, creating a mutually beneficial relationship where Volvo customers gain early access to new features while Google optimizes its automotive software using real-world implementation data. The big picture: Volvo announced an expanded partnership with Google that will make its vehicles among the first to integrate Gemini AI, replacing Google Assistant in cars with Google built-in. Key details: Gemini integration...
read May 21, 2025SAG-AFTRA files labor complaint over AI-recreated Darth Vader voice in Fortnite
SAG-AFTRA's dispute with Epic Games over the AI recreation of James Earl Jones' Darth Vader voice in Fortnite highlights the emerging tensions between AI technology and performers' rights in entertainment. The conflict centers on the use of voice recreation technology without union negotiation, despite family permission, revealing the complex intersection of legacy rights management, AI development, and labor protections in the evolving digital entertainment landscape. The dispute: SAG-AFTRA has filed an unfair labor practice complaint against Epic Games' Llama Productions for using AI to recreate James Earl Jones' Darth Vader voice in Fortnite without union negotiation. The actors union claims...
read