Smallest.ai raises $13M to build ultra-fast voice AI that sounds genuinely human
The startup is building voice models designed to make AI phone calls pass the Turing test. While AI agents are increasingly capable of solving customer support problems, most people can still tell immediately when they're talking to a machine instead of a human. ai , a startup founded in late 2024, is betting the next leap in voice agents will not come from making large language models faster, but from using smaller, specialized models built for human conversation.
Key Takeaways
- Simply put, the company wants to make speaking to an AI agent indistinguishable from talking to a human.
To do so, it's developing a small voice model designed to mimic how humans process information by listening, thinking, and speaking simultaneously.
- "The way an LLM works is you give it an entire prompt, and then it starts thinking," Kamath said.
While that latency is acceptable in a text chat, in a voice conversation, even a short pause feels unnatural.
- Unlike large foundational models, Smallest.
ai focuses strictly on voice-specific nuances, such as handling diverse accents, supporting dozens of languages, and operating in noisy environments.
- ai focuses strictly on real-time conversational voice agents for its enterprise customers.
- com or via encrypted message at +1 on Signal.
Stats & Key Facts
- #ai , a startup founded in late 2024, is betting the next leap in voice agents will not come from making large language models faster, but from using smaller, specialized models built for human conversation.
- #ai has raised $13 million in a Series A round, led by Seligman Ventures with participation from Sierra Ventures and 3one4 Capital.
- #The fresh capital brings the startup's total funding to over $21 million.
Simply put, the company wants to make speaking to an AI agent indistinguishable from talking to a human. To do so, it's developing a small voice model designed to mimic how humans process information by listening, thinking, and speaking simultaneously. "While I'm speaking to you, you're already thinking, and you might interrupt me if I talk for too long," Sudarshan Kamath (pictured left), founder and CEO of Smallest.
ai, told TechCrunch, adding that this is exactly how the startup's model is designed to work. To fuel this mission, Smallest. ai has raised $13 million in a Series A round, led by Seligman Ventures with participation from Sierra Ventures and 3one4 Capital.
The fresh capital brings the startup's total funding to over $21 million. "The way an LLM works is you give it an entire prompt, and then it starts thinking," Kamath said. While that latency is acceptable in a text chat, in a voice conversation, even a short pause feels unnatural.
For more details please read the original article at TechCrunch AI.
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