Meta in talks to acquire voice cloning startup Play AI

Plus: Elon Musk reportedly fires Tesla’s top sales exec

Author

Raisul Islam
June 27, 2025

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In this Newsletter Today:

  • OpenAI hires team behind AI recommendation startup Crossing Minds

  • Meta in talks to acquire voice cloning startup Play AI

  • Elon Musk reportedly fires Tesla’s top sales exec

  • AI Tutorial

  • 5 Best AI Tools

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OpenAI hires team behind AI recommendation startup Crossing Minds

OpenAI has hired the whole team from Crossing Minds. This startup created personalised AI recommendation systems for e-commerce. The team, backed by investors like Index Ventures and Shopify, raised over $13.5 million. Now, they’re teaming up with OpenAI to improve “agents and information retrieval” for AGI goals.

Why it matters:

  • Smart recommendations: Crossing Minds studies customer behaviour for on-site personalisation. Now, this tech will help OpenAI improve shopping assistance.

  • Privacy-friendly: They analyzed shopper habits without compromising privacy—OpenAI can harness this strength.

  • Team impact: Crossing Minds partnered with brands like Intuit, Anthropic, Udacity, and Chanel. Now, they’ve paused client work to fully focus on OpenAI’s mission.

  • Quotes from Crossing Minds:

    Joining OpenAI allows us to bring our work — and our values — into a mission we deeply respect… help shape what’s next.

Meta in talks to acquire voice cloning startup Play AI

Meta is in talks to buy Play AI, a startup that creates realistic AI-generated voices. This move could boost Meta’s AI tools by helping users create lifelike voice content using just text. The deal is still under discussion, but it shows how serious Meta is about expanding in the voice AI space.

Key Points: Meta wants Play AI for its powerful voice technology.

  • What Play AI Can Do: The startup can turn written text into speech that sounds just like real human voices. Their voice cloning is advanced—it captures emotion, tone, and personality.

  • Meta's Goal: Meta is creating AI tools for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads. Adding voice cloning lets users make audio content, send voice messages, or give AI agents a voice.

  • Growing AI Race: Big tech companies like OpenAI, Google, and Meta are all racing to improve their AI tools. Voice is a major part of that future, and this deal would help Meta compete.

  • Startup Background: Play.AI began with former Google DeepMind researchers. They secured funding from major investors, including Nat Friedman, the ex-GitHub CEO. It’s still small but has powerful tech.

  • What’s Next: No official announcement has been made, but Meta is moving fast in AI. This purchase would follow the recent launch of Meta AI tools on Facebook and Instagram.

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Elon Musk reportedly fires Tesla’s top sales exec

Elon Musk has reportedly fired Rohan Patel, Tesla’s Head of Global Sales. This is part of a bigger shake-up in the company. This comes during ongoing layoffs and restructuring moves across Tesla’s teams worldwide. The decision was reported by TechCrunch on June 26, 2025.

Key Points: Big changes are happening at Tesla.

  • Who Got Fired: Rohan Patel, who led Tesla’s global public policy and business development, has been let go. He was a key voice at Tesla for several years and played a major role in global strategy.

  • Bigger Context: This move is part of a massive internal restructuring. Earlier in 2024, Elon Musk said he would cut more than 10% of Tesla's global workforce.

  • Why This Matters: Tesla aims to cut costs and refocus as competition in the EV market increases. Firing a top executive suggests bigger internal changes are coming.

  • Musk’s Style: Elon Musk is known for sudden decisions and surprise firings. This is just the latest in a long list of leadership changes under his watch.

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