Hume 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 custom AI personalities. In recent blind testing, EVI 3 outperformed OpenAI‘s GPT-4o across key metrics including empathy, expressiveness, and overall audio quality—a notable achievement given GPT-4o’s strong reputation in conversational AI.

What sets Hume apart is its focus on emotional intelligence. The system doesn’t just recognize words; it interprets the emotional context behind them, adjusting its responses accordingly. This empathic approach makes conversations feel more like interactions with a thoughtful human rather than exchanges with a digital assistant.

The voice creation process is entirely conversational, requiring no technical expertise or complex configuration. Here’s how to build your own custom AI voice using Hume.ai.

Step-by-step guide to creating your custom AI voice

1. Grant microphone access and prepare your environment

Navigate to Hume.ai and look for the “Design a voice” option to begin working with EVI 3, the platform’s empathic voice-to-voice model. The entire voice creation process relies on spoken interaction rather than text input, so you’ll need to grant microphone access to your browser when prompted.

Since you’ll be speaking aloud to describe your ideal voice characteristics, consider finding a quiet, private space for this process. The AI needs to hear your voice clearly to understand your requirements and respond appropriately. Important note: While you can explore Hume without an account, signing up provides access to additional features and allows you to save your custom voices for future use.

2. Describe your ideal voice characteristics

Once you begin, Hume’s AI will initiate a natural conversation, introducing the voice creation concept and asking you to describe the qualities you want your custom voice to possess. The system is designed for interruption—you don’t need to wait for the AI to finish speaking before responding, which helps speed up the process.

Be specific and creative with your descriptions. For example, you might say: “Create a high-pitched, laid-back voice with a sarcastic edge and a New York accent.” The AI will acknowledge your request and ask follow-up questions to understand the personality behind the voice. Expect questions about whether you want the AI to be direct and blunt, what specific situations you plan to use it for, and how it should handle different conversational contexts.

The more detailed your initial description, the better the AI can understand your vision. Consider aspects like pace of speech, energy level, formality, humor style, and regional characteristics.

3. Engage in test conversations

After gathering enough information about your preferences, the AI will announce that it’s ready to generate your custom voice. You can also select “Proceed to Customized Voice” if you feel you’ve provided sufficient detail. This transitions you to the main chat interface where you can immediately begin testing your newly created voice.

Engage in natural conversation to evaluate how well the voice matches your expectations. Ask questions, make statements, and try different types of interactions to assess the voice’s personality consistency and emotional responsiveness. Pay attention to how it handles various conversational scenarios—does it maintain the characteristics you requested? Does it feel natural and engaging?

The more you interact during this testing phase, the better you’ll understand whether the voice meets your needs or requires adjustments.

4. Provide feedback for refinement

Hume includes a simple but effective feedback system to help improve your custom voice. Use the thumbs-up icon when the voice performs well and matches your expectations. If something feels off—perhaps the tone isn’t quite right or the personality seems inconsistent—click the thumbs-down icon.

Negative feedback triggers a “Retry” option, allowing you to regenerate the voice with the same parameters but potentially better results. This iterative process helps the system learn from your preferences and create increasingly accurate voice matches.

Don’t hesitate to go through multiple iterations. Voice synthesis is complex, and finding the perfect match often requires several attempts and refinements.

5. Save or restart your voice creation

When you’re satisfied with your custom voice, you have two main options. Click the “+” icon to add the voice to your account permanently—you’ll need to select “Continue” and create an account if you haven’t already done so. This saves your voice for future conversations and allows you to access it anytime.

Alternatively, if you want to start over or create a different voice, click the red exit button to return to the home screen. From there, you can select “Design a new voice” to begin the creation process again, or choose “Talk to custom voice” to resume conversations with a previously created voice.

Saved voices become part of your personal AI toolkit, ready for use in various applications from creative projects to business communications.

Practical applications and considerations

Custom AI voices created through Hume offer versatile applications across industries. Content creators can develop unique character voices for podcasts or video projects. Customer service teams can create brand-aligned voices that reflect company personality and values. Educators might design voices optimized for different learning styles or age groups.

The emotional intelligence aspect proves particularly valuable in scenarios requiring empathy and nuanced communication. Unlike traditional AI assistants that maintain consistent tones regardless of context, Hume’s voices adapt their emotional expression based on conversational cues.

However, consider the current limitations. The system requires stable internet connectivity and clear audio input for optimal performance. Voice creation is entirely verbal, which may present accessibility challenges for some users. Additionally, while EVI 3 offers impressive capabilities, it may require multiple iterations to achieve your exact vision.

Alternative voice AI platforms

Hume operates in an increasingly competitive landscape of voice AI tools. ElevenLabs offers sophisticated text-to-speech capabilities with voice cloning features, while tools like OpenVoice provide rapid voice replication from short audio samples. However, Hume’s focus on emotional intelligence and conversational empathy distinguishes it from competitors that prioritize pure audio fidelity over emotional responsiveness.

Closing thoughts

Hume’s EVI 3 represents a meaningful advancement in making AI voices feel genuinely human-like. By prioritizing emotional intelligence alongside technical quality, the platform creates voices that don’t just sound realistic—they respond with appropriate emotional context. For users seeking AI voices that can engage in nuanced, empathetic conversations rather than simply converting text to speech, Hume offers a compelling solution that’s both accessible and surprisingly sophisticated.