Tags: acqui‑hire

Google DeepMind has hired the CEO and several engineers from voice AI startup Hume AI as part of a new licensing agreement. The move brings Hume AI's expertise in emotion‑aware speech processing to improve Gemini's voice capabilities. Hume AI will retain a non‑exclusive right to its intellectual property, continue supplying its technology to other firms, and launch new models while targeting $100 million in revenue this year. The deal highlights a growing trend of AI giants acquiring talent rather than whole companies, underscoring voice as the next frontier in artificial intelligence. Read more

OpenAI announced an acqui‑hire of the three co‑founders behind Convogo, a platform that helped executive coaches and HR teams automate leadership assessments. The deal does not include Convogo’s technology or product, which will be discontinued, but brings the founders—Matt Cooper, Evan Cater, and Mike Gillett—into OpenAI’s AI cloud efforts under an all‑stock arrangement. The move reflects OpenAI’s ongoing strategy of using acquisitions to acquire talent and accelerate capabilities, adding to a series of recent purchases that have either integrated products into OpenAI’s ecosystem or shuttered them as teams joined the company. Read more