The tech giant has announced the integration of Chirp 3, its advanced speech-to-text and high-definition text-to-speech model, into its Vertex AI platform. The rollout is set to begin next week. Google’s announcement follows last week’s quiet reveal that Chirp 3 is introducing eight new voices across 31 languages. These advancements open up a wide range of applications, including:
- AI-powered voice assistants
- Audiobook narration
- Automated customer support agents
- Video voice-overs and dubbing
The news was shared during an event at Google’s DeepMind offices in London, emphasizing the growing focus on AI-driven voice solutions.
Competing in the AI Voice Race
Google’s latest move aligns with growing competition in the AI voice space. Recently, Sesame, the startup behind the ultra-realistic AI voices of “Maya” and “Miles,” announced the release of its own developer model, allowing businesses to build custom applications using its cutting-edge voice AI technology.
At the same time, ElevenLabs, another major player in AI voice services, has secured hundreds of millions in funding to advance its innovations.
With tech giants and startups investing heavily in AI voice generation, the demand for lifelike synthetic voices is heating up. However, Google is taking a cautious approach by implementing usage restrictions to prevent misuse. “We’re just working through some of these things with our safety team,” Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian noted at a press event.
Chirp 3 Joins Google’s AI Suite
Chirp 3 will now sit alongside Google’s other AI innovations, including:
- Gemini, its next-generation large language model (LLM)
- Imagen, an AI-powered image-generation model
- Veo 2, its advanced video-generation tool
While Google has yet to confirm whether Chirp 3’s voices will match the realism of competitors like Sesame, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis reminded attendees that AI development remains a long-term endeavor.
“In the near term, this idea that [AI] is a silver bullet to everything in the next couple of years—I don’t see that happening just yet,” Hassabis explained. “We’re still quite a few years away from something like AGI. It’s going to change things over the next decade.”
Vertex AI: Google’s Push for Generative AI Leadership
Originally launched in 2021, Vertex AI was designed as a cloud-based platform for machine learning developers. However, its role has expanded significantly as Google works to compete with Microsoft and Amazon in the generative AI race.
Beyond AI voice generation, Vertex AI now enables developers to:
- Classify and analyze data
- Train AI models
- Deploy AI-powered applications in production
With Chirp 3 now part of its ecosystem, Google’s AI platform is becoming increasingly powerful. Whether it will open its doors to external models beyond its proprietary AI remains to be seen.
