ElevenLabs CEO: Voice Will Be the Next Interface for AI

Voice Revolution Arrives: ElevenLabs CEO’s Prophecy

At the Web Summit Qatar in Doha, Qatar on February 5, 2026, ElevenLabs CEO Piotr Dąbkowski boldly declared:

Voice will be the next interface for AI.

This statement quickly became a focal point of the conference, sparking widespread discussion in the tech community. As a unicorn company specializing in AI voice synthesis technology, ElevenLabs stands at the forefront of the voice AI wave, and Dąbkowski’s remarks are not baseless but are grounded in the current actions of industry giants.

Founded in 2022, ElevenLabs is renowned for its high-fidelity, multilingual text-to-speech (TTS) technology. The company’s products serve millions of users worldwide, covering areas such as podcast production, game dubbing, and enterprise customer service. Its core advantage lies in generating near-human-level speech, supporting emotional expression and real-time cloning, making AI voices no longer stiff but vivid and natural.

Giants’ Moves: OpenAI, Google, and Apple’s Voice Ambitions

Dąbkowski’s assertion is backed by solid facts. OpenAI’s recently launched GPT-4o model has elevated voice interaction to new heights, allowing users to control ChatGPT through natural conversation and even achieve latency-free voice responses on mobile phones. Google’s Gemini series is deeply integrated into the Android ecosystem and Pixel devices, supporting multimodal conversations, including voice-command-driven smart home control. Apple, at WWDC 2025, announced an upgraded Siri for Apple Intelligence, embedding it into AirPods Pro and Vision Pro headsets for all-day voice assistant functionality.

These giants are pushing conversational systems from phone screens to wearable devices, new hardware, and everyday interaction scenarios. For example, the voice-first device launched by OpenAI in collaboration with Humane AI Pin completely abandons screens, allowing users to obtain information, schedule meetings, or create content via whispers. Google’s Project Astra glasses prototype also emphasizes voice as the primary interface, combined with AR displays to assist in understanding the world. Apple’s iOS 19 beta enables Siri to seamlessly switch voice sessions across devices.

Industry data further corroborates this trend. According to Statista, the global voice assistant market is projected to exceed $50 billion by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 25%. Voice interaction penetration has reached 60% in smart homes, and it is becoming standard in automotive and healthcare sectors.

Why Is Voice the ‘Next Interface’ for AI?

Traditional AI interaction relies on keyboards and screens, which limits its universality. The advantages of voice are obvious: it is the most natural way for humans to communicate, freeing hands and eyes without needing to look at a device. Imagine checking the weather by voice while driving, dictating notes while working out, or real-time translation of speech during a meeting—these scenarios are turning from science fiction into reality.

ElevenLabs’ technology stack provides key support for this. Its V2 model supports 11 emotional modulations and cloning of any voice, with latency as low as 200ms, far exceeding the industry average. The company has also open-sourced the VoiceLab tool, allowing developers to customize AI voice libraries, fostering ecosystem growth. Additionally, ElevenLabs’ partnerships with Adobe and Microsoft are injecting voice AI into professional software like Premiere and Teams.

However, voice AI is not without challenges. Privacy is the primary concern: voice data is highly sensitive, and how to prevent misuse and deepfakes? ElevenLabs has introduced watermarking technology and user authentication mechanisms, but industry standards still need improvement. Accuracy is also a bottleneck, especially in noisy environments or dialect recognition. Although Google’s Universal Speech Model covers 1,000 languages, its error rate still stands as high as 5%.

Editor’s Note: Opportunities and Concerns of Voice AI

As an AI tech news editor, I believe Dąbkowski’s prophecy accurately captures the shift in interaction paradigms. From the Turing machine to GUI, and now to voice/multimodal, AI is returning to human instinct. However, we must be wary of ‘voice fatigue’—over-reliance may weaken reading and thinking abilities. At the same time, regulatory lag could amplify ethical risks, such as voice forgery used for fraud.

Looking ahead, voice will merge with brain-computer interfaces (e.g., Neuralink) to form the ultimate human-machine dialogue. Innovators like ElevenLabs will stand out in this track. Chinese companies such as Alibaba Cloud’s Tongyi Qianwen voice version and Baidu’s ERNIE are also accelerating their pursuit, with the domestic market share expected to exceed 40% by 2027.

In summary, voice is not just a technological upgrade but a lifestyle transformation. The debate at Web Summit Qatar marks AI’s leap from ‘tool’ to ‘partner.’

This article is compiled from TechCrunch, by Rebecca Bellan, original title: ElevenLabs CEO: Voice is the next interface for AI, dated 2026-02-05.