ElevenLabs plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in India, co-founder Mati Staniszewski told Reuters on 6 October. The planned spending covers local teams, model development and work on Indian languages.
Key points
- Staniszewski said ElevenLabs plans to direct a double-digit percentage of the close to $1 billion it has raised towards India.
- The company’s latest model supports 14 Indian languages, according to CNBC-TV18.
- ElevenLabs is open to acquisitions in India, Staniszewski told Reuters.
- Staniszewski expects voice AI to affect repetitive customer-support work in India’s business process outsourcing industry.
India spending draws on ElevenLabs’ fundraising
Staniszewski, identified as ElevenLabs’ chief executive by CNBC-TV18, said the company plans to spend a double-digit percentage of the close to $1 billion it has raised on India. He described model development, local hiring and Indian language work as uses for the money.
ElevenLabs declined to give an exact investment amount, Reuters reported. Staniszewski told the news agency that the company was open to merger and acquisition targets in India, but declined to name any. The potential acquisitions sit alongside its plan to build local teams and develop models for the market.
The company doubled its valuation to $22 billion in a $300 million tender offer, according to an earlier AI Affairs report on the transaction. Staniszewski’s India figure describes planned company spending rather than the size of that tender offer.
Fourteen Indian languages in ElevenLabs’ latest model
ElevenLabs’ latest model supports 14 Indian languages, CNBC-TV18 reported. The company is working with Indian businesses on customer support, sales and other applications. Its proposed investment would add local capacity for developing models and working on languages as it pursues those commercial uses.
Staniszewski described India as a potential testing ground for voice AI. He said applications developed there could shape adoption in other markets, and argued that voice could become a primary way for people to interact with AI. He linked that prospect to India’s multiple languages and widespread use of voice-based communication.
ElevenLabs wants to provide what Staniszewski called the “interaction layer” for AI agents. He said its offering includes integrations, deployment and monitoring as well as models. Those products are part of the company’s approach to helping customers put AI systems into use, he told CNBC-TV18.
Customer-support calls and India’s BPO workforce
Staniszewski said conversational AI is nearing human-level performance for certain tasks and might pass the Turing test in the near term. In basic level-one customer support, he said AI is already comparable with human workers. He expects further improvements in conversational quality over the next six to 12 months.
He expects the technology to affect India’s business process outsourcing industry, particularly repetitive and scripted customer calls. Staniszewski said work was likely to move from level-one support towards level-two and level-three roles involving more complex exchanges and emotional understanding.
His account also envisages human employees supervising calls, stepping in when needed and handling cases that require greater judgement. ElevenLabs already uses that arrangement to qualify incoming sales enquiries and is working with BPO companies on similar applications, he said.
Staniszewski said companies should currently tell customers when they are speaking to an AI agent. He also described offering customers a choice between an AI agent and waiting for a human employee. On releasing the technology, he said companies should pause when they do not understand the risks and put safeguards in place before release.
