Respeecher

Respeecher is an AI-startup enabling one person to speak in the voice of another particular person. Among the most recent works are using AI to sample archival voice recordings of James Earl Jones (as Darth Vader) in Obi-Wan Kenobi and the combined sampling and recreation of Mark Hamill's voice (as Luke Skywalker) in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.[1][2][3]

Respeecher
IndustryAI
Founded2018
FounderAlex Serdiuk, Dmytro Bielievtsov, Grant Reaber
Headquarters
Kyiv
,
Ukraine
Websitewww.respeecher.com

History

Respeecher was founded in February 2018 and a year later they completed the Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Accelerator, powered by Techstars.[4] They received $1.5 million in startup funding in early March 2020.[5]

In December 2020, Respeecher was credited in the season finale of Disney streaming TV series The Mandalorian for synthesizing the voice of young Luke Skywalker.[6][7] In February 2021, they worked on the voice of Vince Lombardi for the Super Bowl commercial.[8]

In September 2021, the Respeecher team was awarded with Emmy for their work on Richard Nixon's voice (combined with the dialogue being performed by another actor) in the internet short film "In Event of Moon Disaster".[9][10]

In February 2022, Respeecher was credited in "Chapter 6" of The Book of Boba Fett, for providing the synthetic voice of young Luke Skywalker.[11]

The Respeecher team, most of which is located in Ukraine, was able to continue working despite the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.[1][12]

In March 2022, they enabled cross-lingual singing voice cloning for Aloe Blacc's tribute to Avicii.[13]

On June 27, 2022, the company created an AI voice for Darth Vader based on actor James Earl Jones' archive recordings from earlier Star Wars projects in the TV series Obi-Wan Kenobi.[1][14][15][16][17]

In November 2022, the first synthetic speech artist was credited in Sony’s video game God of War Ragnarök.[18]

Since 2018, Respeecher have raised over $3 million in investments and share their technology with Hollywood movie studios, video game creators, and other businesses.[19][20][21]

In February 2023, they joined Partnership on AI which is a Responsible Practices for Synthetic Media is a community-derived framework for the ethical and responsible development, creation, and sharing of synthetic media and AI technology.[22]

In October 2023, CD Projekt announced they used Respeecher to synthesize the voice of Miłogost Reczek, who died in 2021, for the Polish language release of the Cyberpunk 2077 expansion Phantom Liberty. They say they did this with permission from Reczek’s family.[23]

References
  1. "Darth Vader's Voice Emanated From War-Torn Ukraine". Vanity Fair. 2022-09-23. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  2. Coldewey, Devin (2022-09-26). "AI is taking over the iconic voice of Darth Vader, with the blessing of James Earl Jones". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  3. Edwards, Benj (2022-09-26). "Darth Vader's voice will be AI-generated from now on". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  4. Inna (2019-08-07). "Respeecher has joined Techstars Philadelphia · TechUkraine". TechUkraine. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  5. "Ukrainian "deepfake-for-good" startup Respeecher raises $1.5 million". Tech.eu. 2020-03-04. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  6. Tangcay, Jazz (2022-03-22). "How Ukrainian Company Respeecher De-Aged Mark Hamill's Voice for 'Boba Fett' and 'The Mandalorian'". Variety. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  7. Ratcliffe, Amy (2021-08-25). "THE MANDALORIAN Used Voice Cloning Software for Luke Skywalker's Voice". Nerdist. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  8. Haggerty, Charles (2021-03-15). "Lombardi Super Bowl Ad Features Voice Technology by LIFT Labs Alum Respeecher". Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  9. Fiscutean, Andrada (2021-10-21). "Nixon's unheard moon-disaster speech is now a warning about the deepfake future". ZDNET. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  10. Zosia, Wanat (13 Feb 2023). "Colleagues under fire, spooked investors and an Emmy award: Ukrainian founders on a year of war". Sifted.
  11. Tangcay, Jazz (2022-03-22). "How Ukrainian Company Respeecher De-Aged Mark Hamill's Voice for 'Boba Fett' and 'The Mandalorian'". Variety. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  12. Katie Wickens (2022-08-23). "Respect to the Ukrainian sound engineer who worked on Star Wars voices between air raid sirens". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  13. Bain, Katie (2022-04-21). "Watch Aloe Blacc Sing 'Wake Me Up' in Three Languages to Honor Fourth Anniversary of Avicii's Death". Billboard. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  14. Andrew, Scottie (2022-09-26). "James Earl Jones is hanging up his cape as Darth Vader". CNN. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  15. "Star Wars: James Earl Jones steps back from Darth Vader role". BBC News. 2022-09-26. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  16. Coldewey, Devin (2022-09-26). "AI is taking over the iconic voice of Darth Vader, with the blessing of James Earl Jones". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  17. Hern, Alex (2022-09-27). "The droids you're looking for: how Ukrainian AI recreated Darth Vader's voice". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  18. Guevara, Renzo (2022-11-11). "God of War Ragnarok Director reveals why Atreus' voice changed". UnGeek. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
  19. Sylvers, Eric (2022-09-13). "Ukrainian Startups Secure Funding Even as War Endures". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  20. "AI Voice Replication Is Transforming Star Wars And Other Media". Discover Magazine. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  21. Moses, Lucia. "9 startups bringing AI tech to Netflix, Lucasfilm, Marvel, and more Hollywood studios — and attracting millions in VC funding". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  22. "How to create, release, and share generative AI responsibly". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  23. Schreier, Jason (2023-10-12). "Video Game Cyberpunk 2077 Uses AI To Replace Deceased Voice Actor". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.