–ElevenLabs Expands Global Reach with Multilingual AI Reader App | Image by The Alphabet
ElevenLabs, an innovative startup in the field of AI-driven synthetic voice technology, has rolled out its Reader app on a global scale, now supporting 32 different languages.
Initially launched in June for users in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada, the Reader app enables users to upload various text formats, including articles, PDFs, and e-books, and have them read aloud in a selection of voices and languages. The app’s language repertoire now includes options such as Portuguese, Spanish, French, Hindi, German, Japanese, Arabic, Korean, Italian, Tamil, and Swedish.
Earlier this year, ElevenLabs achieved unicorn status after securing $80 million in funding from investors, including Andreessen Horowitz. The company offers an API that businesses can utilize for tasks like dubbing or converting text to speech. Their technology is featured in products like the Rabbit r1 and provides text-to-speech capabilities for AI search engine Perplexity, as well as audio platforms such as Pocket FM and Kuku FM. The Reader app represents ElevenLabs’ first product specifically designed for consumer use.
To enhance the app’s capabilities, ElevenLabs has expanded its voice library by adding hundreds of new voices tailored to different languages. Additionally, the company recently licensed the voices of iconic actors, including Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds, and Sir Laurence Olivier, for use in the app.
The extended language support is powered by ElevenLabs’ Turbo v2.5 model, released last month, which reportedly reduces the time delay in converting text to speech while also improving the overall quality.
The Reader app faces competition from Speechify, which offers features like document scanning, Gmail and Canvas integration, and the ability for users to create voice clones to read text. Other comparable apps include Mozilla’s Pocket and The New York Times’ Audm-based audio app, both of which allow users to listen to written content.
Looking ahead, ElevenLabs plans to introduce additional features to the Reader app, such as offline functionality and the ability to share audio clips.
