By Anna Tong

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A former OpenAI researcher has raised $40 million for a startup that will build artificial intelligence models that connect emotionally with humans via voice, the company said on Monday.

The startup, WaveForms AI, is backed by Andreessen Horowitz and valued at $200 million, CEO Alexis Conneau told Reuters.

Conneau co-created the voice mode capability on OpenAI's GPT-4o model, which, when released earlier this year, demonstrated the ability to respond in real-time with no delay and handle interruptions—both hallmarks of realistic conversations that had previously eluded AI voice assistants.

After the launch, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted the word "her" on social media platform X, seemingly referencing the 2013 film of the same name by Spike Jonze about a man who fell in love with his AI assistant, voiced by Scarlett Johansson.

OpenAI's launch of GPT-4o became controversial when Johansson accused the startup of copying her voice from the movie. OpenAI stated that the voice was not an imitation of Johansson and that they used a different voice actress.

Conneau, along with WaveForms AI co-founder Coralie Lemaitre, mentioned that the startup will use the funding to train new audio AI models aimed at making voice conversations with an AI bot feel indistinguishable from those with a human. He added that audio is key to making AI interactions feel "deeply human."

> "Audio … conveys emotions and provides emotional responses back to users," he said.

Conneau stated that the company plans to create a consumer software product focusing on the emotional connection between the user and the AI, although he declined to provide more details.

> "The idea is to create new, more immersive experiences with AI, ones that feel more enjoyable," he told Reuters. "There are many companies right now that are focusing on superintelligence, but not so much on the quality of the human-computer interaction."