Senior Software Engineer, WellSaid Labs

The most common rebuttal to this kind of technology is how it can be used with malicious intent – deepfakes being the most pertinent concern. This is precisely why WellSaid Labs has no current intention to bring its product to a consumer market – a wise decision. It’s also worth noting that all its voice samples are provided with consent of the original talent.

There’s an obvious attraction to being able to quickly create audio content at an enterprise level, and WellSaid is ensuring the pricing is right by counting only downloaded, completed audio content towards a customer's plan limit. This smartly allows for longer and more nuanced editing and development, so that customers never settle for "good enough". The fact that the startup's first major funding round was oversubscribed indicates that investors see its attraction too. It'll be an interesting company to keep an eye on in the coming years.