ElevenLabs’ Reader Launches Worldwide

ElevenLabs, an AI startup specializing in synthetic voice technologies, is expanding the availability of its Reader app worldwide, now supporting 32 languages.

Users can upload any text content, such as articles, PDF documents, or e-books, and listen to it in various languages and voices.

The application was initially distributed in June in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Languages such as Portuguese, Spanish, French, Hindi, German, Japanese, Arabic, Korean, Italian, Tamil, and Swedish are now supported by Reader.

ElevenLabs, which raised $80 million from investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, earlier this year, became a unicorn.

The company offers an API that allows companies to utilize various applications, such as text-to-speech or voicing.

The company is responsible for the voice interactions on the Rabbit r1, the text-to-speech features on the AI-powered search engine Perplexity and the audio platforms Pocket FM and Kuku FM. Its inaugural consumer-facing product is the Reader application.

The startup has announced the addition of hundreds of new voices from its repertoire that are suitable for various languages. The company licensed the voices of actors, including Sir Laurence Olivier, Burt Reynolds, James Dean, and Judy Garland, for the app last month.

ElevenLabs stated that the extended language support is facilitated by its Turbo v2.5 model, published last month. This model is purported to enhance the quality and reduce the latency of text-to-speech conversion.

Speechify, the Reader app’s most direct competitor, provides users with the ability to clone their voice to read text, as well as the ability to scan documents for text and integrate with Gmail and Canvas.

Mozilla owns Pocket, and The New York Times’ audio app, based on Audm, also allows users to listen to content.

ElevenLabs announced that it would incorporate additional features into the application, including the capacity to share audio excerpts and offline support.