Audio Native, the new offering from voice AI startup ElevenLabs, aims to tap into the market for web page narration. This embeddable audio player uses the company’s text-to-speech technology to automatically narrate web page content. ElevenLabs has been rolling out a series of capabilities, including ElevenLabs Reader, which can voice text in 11 different voices and speak 29 languages.
The Audio Native tool is available at the “creator” tier for $11 a month and includes built-in metrics and a listener dashboard to track audience engagement. It has already been utilized by various websites, such as The Atlantic and The New York Times. According to Sam Sklar of ElevenLabs, Audio Native is customizable, easy to set up, and helps drive reader engagement while making content accessible for readers and listeners worldwide.
To voice website content, users need to provide a “brief snippet” of HTML, add their website domain to the “allow” list, choose a voice from ElevenLabs’ existing options, customize the player’s background and text color, and then copy and paste the embedded code onto their website. Users can also create a pronunciation dictionary to specify how certain words unique to their brand should be pronounced. The model defaults to creating voiceovers for all text content on the page but allows customization with CSS selectors.
The new capability currently supports React, Squarespace, WordPress, Ghost, Webflow, and Framer. Early users are praising the tool for its ability to improve accessibility. The demand for this type of tool is expected to be significant, with users expressing excitement about its potential impact.
ElevenLabs has plans to continue expanding its capabilities based on user feedback. When one user suggested adding RSS feeds to allow for podcast creation, Luke Harries, head of growth at ElevenLabs, responded positively, indicating that the idea would be shared with the team.
Founded in 2022 by former Google engineer Piotr Dabkowski and former Palantir Technologies deployment strategist Mati Staniszewski, ElevenLabs has already achieved a valuation of $1.1 billion. The company recently raised $80 million in funding. While operating in a competitive market alongside other players such as Speechify, Deepgram, and LiSTNR, ElevenLabs is capitalizing on the growing global AI voice cloning market, which is predicted to reach $16.2 billion by 2032.
ElevenLabs has also partnered with HarperCollins Publishers to produce AI-generated audiobooks and has launched a marketplace where users can sell their cloned voice for money. However, the company has faced scrutiny regarding its music generation capabilities and allegations of using copyrighted materials to train its models. This is an issue that has become increasingly contentious in recent times. Overall, while ElevenLabs is making strides in the voice AI market, it must navigate ethical concerns and ensure compliance with copyright regulations.