Official Announcement of Entry into Korea at Press Conference on the 21st
Plans to Apply Technology to Korean Film, TV, and Game Industries
AI Agents for Customer Centers... Reducing Consultation Time
Eleven Labs, a voice artificial intelligence (AI) specialist company with a corporate valuation of $6.6 billion (approximately 9.7 trillion won), officially announced its entry into the Korean market on the 21st.
Mati Staniszewski, Co-founder and CEO of Eleven Labs, is giving a greeting at the Eleven Labs Korea launch press conference held on the 21st at JW Marriott Seoul Hotel in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News
Founded in the United Kingdom in 2022, Eleven Labs specializes in AI-based audio tools. The company has developed technology that can convert text to speech, provide highly realistic multilingual dubbing, and replicate a speaker's voice using only a short voice sample.
Co-founded by Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Piotr Dabkowski, a former Google engineer, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mati Staniszewski, formerly of Palantir, the company has experienced rapid growth in a short period thanks to its unique technological capabilities. The two have been "best friends" for 15 years, since their high school days. While CTO Piotr Dabkowski is responsible for technology, CEO Mati Staniszewski oversees product development.
Currently, the company boasts over 50 million monthly active users, a corporate valuation of $6.6 billion, and an active client base that includes 75% of the Fortune 500 companies, both domestic and international.
Korea: A Market with High AI Adoption
At a press conference held at JW Marriott Hotel in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 21st, Eleven Labs CEO Mati Staniszewski described the company as "a voice AI creative enterprise that gives technology a voice and breathes life into the world's knowledge, stories, and agents."
For its entry into Korea, Eleven Labs developed a model last year that generates Korean text and speech. The company plans to apply this technology to content production in the film and TV industries, as well as AI contact centers. It has focused on Korea's rapid AI adoption rate, high mobile internet usage, the government's commitment to fostering AI-including a planned budget of 10 trillion won next year-and the scalability of content such as K-pop and K-dramas.
The company is already collaborating with domestic firms such as ESTsoft, Krafton, and SBS to enhance user experience and reduce content production costs and time.
AI Voices Perform Like Voice Actors, Even Coughing... Live Demonstration
Eleven Labs' offerings are divided into a creative platform and an agent platform. The creative platform supports over 70 languages and is renowned for its ability to authentically reproduce the emotion and nuance of original works. It can capture and convey character laughter, sighs, exclamations, and even breathing sounds. This improves production efficiency, reducing both dubbing time and costs.
Mati Staniszewski, Co-founder and CEO of Eleven Labs, is giving a greeting at the Eleven Labs Korea launch press conference held on the 21st at JW Marriott Seoul Hotel in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News
During the demonstration on this day, the AI voice actor softly whispered Korean text and even coughed at intervals. The AI read lines and stage directions vividly and naturally, as if performing.
CEO Staniszewski stated, "We enable creators to edit and refine their work to perfection, not only with various audio elements but also with images and videos."
The AI agent platform is expected to be applied in customer service and contact centers. The local engineering team in Korea will visit client sites directly to understand systems and commercialize solutions.
CEO Staniszewski introduced a case study of a major European digital bank that adopted the company's AI agent platform. The bank reduced agent response times to customer inquiries from 15 minutes to 2 minutes, enabled AI to fully handle 50% of credit card-related inquiries, and shortened the time from planning to product launch to less than two months.
Sangwon Hong, who heads Eleven Labs' branches in Korea and Japan, said, "With a response speed of under 500 milliseconds and ultra-low latency, our voice agents will provide 24-hour multilingual support to enhance customer experience."
He added, "This is not simply about replacement, but synergy between humans and AI. While AI handles 70% of repetitive inquiries, human agents can focus on complex tasks that require genuine empathy and creativity."
Voice as a Tool for Interaction... "Aiming to Become Asia's Voice AI Hub"
CEO Staniszewski expressed high expectations for the future expansion and vision of the voice AI market. He said, "Voice is the most primitive form of communication humans have ever used," and predicted, "Voice and speech will become the primary interface for interacting with technology."
Sangwon Hong, Head of Eleven Labs Korea, is giving a greeting speech at the Eleven Labs Korea launch press conference held on the 21st at JW Marriott Seoul Hotel in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News
He also stated, "In the future, people will be able to enjoy all content and information around them in their local language, with the same voice, intonation, and emotion. This will allow for deeper understanding with others by enabling communication in the language of the place one is visiting." He added, "AI will enable the integration of voice, visuals, and text, allowing for more personalized use."
Additionally, Eleven Labs has announced its 3C framework to prevent concerns such as deepfake misuse, copyright infringement, and unfair use. The 3C framework consists of Consent, Control, and Compensation.
Consent is a rigorous verification step from the outset, Control involves tracking and blocking systems, and Compensation refers to a fair revenue generation ecosystem, according to Hong. Eleven Labs' AI voice marketplace currently hosts more than 10,000 voices worldwide, returning approximately $11 million in revenue to creators.
Hong emphasized his commitment by saying, "We will work with Korean customers until Korea becomes not just a market, but the hub of Voice AI in Asia."
CEO Staniszewski also declared, "Ultimately, we aim to break down language barriers with AI audio technology, making voice and content accessible anywhere in the world through real-time translation and dubbing."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
