Pursuing Emotional General Intelligence

End-to-end Audio Language Models brought us closer to the dream of seamless, human-like communication with AIs. Audio models are now capable of real-time, emotionally resonant and immersive voice interactions.

WaveForms AI was born to take this vision much further and unlock the full potential of audio intelligence. Our mission is simple and ambitious: we will solve the Speech Turing Test, and advance AI toward immersive experiences that inspire and connect.

Voice is where humanity and emotion truly come alive. It carries the depth, nuance, and authenticity of human interaction in a way text never can. Through sound, we do not just exchange words—we share meaning, empathy, and connection, creating bonds that feel profoundly human.

Unlike Text-to-Speech systems, Audio LLMs process audio natively, both in and out. This enables them to capture the emotional subtleties of the voice, respond in real-time, and convey complex emotions in return. By understanding the full context of a conversation, our models will create experiences that are more meaningful, impactful, and emotionally powerful than ever before.

At WaveForms AI, we are creating a new dimension of AI intelligence: audio intelligence. Enriching AI with a social-emotional layer will bring it closer to what makes us fundamentally human: our emotions, relationships, and the way we interact with one another.

We are pursuing the dream of Emotional General Intelligence (EGI)—creating human-AI connections that feel natural, personal, and deeply engaging. We believe our mission is to align AIs to genuinely care about humanity, prioritizing empathy and emotional connection over the singular pursuit of superintelligence.

WaveForms AI was founded by Alexis Conneau, one of the world’s leading Audio and Text LLM researchers and co-creator of OpenAI’s GPT4-o Advanced Voice Mode neural networks, along with Coralie Lemaitre, a distinguished leader in business and product strategy from Google, who brings exceptional leadership and strategic vision.

We are assembling a team of enthusiastic and pragmatic AI dreamers who believe in the bitter lesson. Together, we will create a technology that will unlock new frontiers on how we experience AI.

We are hiring the world’s best AI engineers in our office in San Francisco, California. Join us if you want to build something #magical.