Focused on scaling India presence, plan to introduce more Indian English voices: CEO of AI voice generator Murf

New Delhi: AI voice generation platform Murf plans to introduce more Indian English voices and other region-specific options in an effort to meet the diverse needs and preferences of users in the growing Indian market, says CEO Ankur Edkie.

Murf.ai, which leverages artificial intelligence to transform written scripts into realistic and natural-sounding speech, is consolidating a strong user base in established markets such as the US and UK, and simultaneously expanding global reach.

"India's market is ripe for Murf's offerings, especially in text-to-voice technologies," Edkie told PTI, noting that the country is taking significant strides in AI with generative AI gaining substantial interest and traction.

The platform caters to users from 150-plus nations and offers AI voiceovers in more than 20 languages and accents, including Indian, American and British as well as styles ranging from happy and sad to anger and disgust. It aims at targeting the Indian market more aggressively to bring in more features tailored to local needs, Edkie said.

Indian tech talent, he added, has been fundamental to Murf, based in California, from the beginning and will continue to be so, playing a vital role in building global products and advancing AI technologies.

Murf.ai, Edkie said, leverages the power of Amazon Web Services (AWS) to unlock unprecedented agility and robust security, driving innovation and efficiency across our operations.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q: Can you tell us about the size and scale of the Murf's operations and the major markets for your products/offerings?

A: Murf is the world’s leading AI voice generation platform that helps businesses simplify the process of creating natural-sounding voice-overs using AI. Our mission is to simplify multimedia creation and editing and transform multimedia workflows using AI.

Murf empowers creators and businesses, including marketers, L&D (learning and development) managers, instructional designers and authors, to easily generate realistic voiceovers for their projects.

Currently, our operations cater to users from 150 plus countries, offering AI voiceovers in over 20 languages. More than 100 Fortune 500 companies use Murf for their content generation requirements. Over the last 12 months, more than 18 million minutes of voiceovers were created on Murf’s AI Voice studio.

Q: What have been the key milestones in the journey of Murf?

A: Murf has achieved remarkable milestones, from the successful deployment of cutting-edge technologies to forging strategic partnerships. Key highlights include the expansion of our user base, technological advancements, and recognition as a leading innovator in the AI space.

Murf’s AI voices include more than 20 languages and accents (Indian, American, British, Scottish, Australian, African American) and styles ranging from happy, sad to anger, disgust.

Q: What are Murf's future plans in terms of market expansion, and increasing user base particularly in India?

A: Murf's vision centres on democratising content creation, empowering anyone, regardless of their core skill set, to effortlessly craft high-quality, engaging content. Our growth strategy is twofold: consolidating a strong, loyal user base in established markets like the US and UK while simultaneously expanding our global reach.

As part of this expansion, we are also focusing on scaling our presence in India. To cater to the Indian market, we plan to introduce more Indian English voices and other region-specific options aimed at meeting the diverse needs and preferences of users.

India's market is ripe for Murf's offerings, especially in text-to-voice technologies. The country is making significant strides in AI, with generative AI gaining substantial interest and traction. This trend is expected to continue throughout 2024, with many successful use cases of Gen AI implementation emerging.

When it comes to Indian tech talent, it has been fundamental to Murf from the beginning and will continue to be so, playing a vital role in building global products and advancing our AI technologies. We aim to target the Indian market more aggressively, bringing in more voices and features tailored to the local needs.

Q: How have you embraced new innovations to stay ahead?

A: We are deeply committed to maintaining our position at the forefront of technological advancement. Our approach is multi-faceted, centred on the continual enhancement and evolution of our AI models. This dedication to innovation ensures that we not only keep pace with the latest trends and developments but often set them.

By consistently updating and refining our AI algorithms, we have achieved several key benefits. First, there's a noticeable improvement in the naturalness and fluidity of the speech generated by our systems.

Second, our commitment to innovation has enabled us to expand our offerings to include a wider range of voices and languages. This inclusivity ensures that our technology is accessible to a diverse global audience, breaking down language barriers and fostering wider communication.

Additionally, these advancements have enhanced the efficiency of our systems. Faster processing times and more accurate speech recognition are just a couple of examples of how our cutting-edge technology has streamlined operations for our clients.

This includes accelerated AI Innovation - the latest generation of GPU instance types delivers exceptional performance within budget, allowing us to unlock new levels of value from our AI initiatives. Additionally, the new P series (latest generation of GPU-based instances) dramatically reduce model training times, propelling our research and development efforts forward.

Intuitive AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) empowers us to grant precise access rights, aligning perfectly with our existing identity provider. This fine-grained control translates to enhanced security and streamlined workflow.

When it comes to independent experimentation, secure production, we have implemented dedicated AWS accounts for development, staging, and production, empowering researchers and developers to work autonomously while ensuring pristine production environments. This segregation maximises security and fosters rapid iteration.

On cost optimisation at scale, AWS' flexible compute plans and intelligent utilisation strategies enable us to optimise our cloud spend. Coupled with the unmatched savings potential of Spot Instances (unused EC2 capacity in AWS cloud and available at up to 90 per cent discount), we achieve significant cost advantages without compromising performance.

With regard to compliance confidence, the comprehensive audit logs, a cornerstone of the AWS infrastructure, provide irrefutable evidence for compliance purposes, giving us peace of mind and regulatory confidence.

And, finally, proactive security and expert guidance. AWS Inspector and GuardDuty stand as vigilant sentinels, continuously scanning our infrastructure for vulnerabilities and proactively mitigating potential threats. This proactive approach keeps our security posture impeccable and allows us to focus on what matters most - innovation.

With the dedicated support of AWS technical experts and the ongoing guidance of our account managers, we have a trusted partner empowering our journey towards a secure, agile, and future-proof cloud environment.

(This story has been produced by PTI in collaboration with Amazon Web Services).