In the AI game: Maya1 shows developing useful tools need not cost a bomb

It supports over 20 controllable speaking styles, including natural patterns like hesitation, excitement, and warmth

The launch of Maya1, a new model of converting text into speech (called “text to speech”, or TTS) based on artificial intelligence (AI), indicates a paradigm shift in such services. The model has been built by two 23-year-olds in Bengaluru and it is ranked second among open-weight voice AIs (where the user can tweak the AI model’s weightings) and 20th globally on quality benchmarks. The model displays a few technical breakthroughs and it was developed on a shoestring. Most TTS models, like the ones from Google, ElevenLabs, or OpenAI, rely on libraries of recorded voices. Maya1 allows users