Explore voice-first conversational AI through honest conversations with practitioners. Hear from AI builders, infra engineers, product strategists, and more for the latest insights on what it takes to build best-in-class conversational AI experiences.Check out video episodes and subscribe to the Convo AI Newsletter at convoai.world
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What does it take to evolve from live voice experiences to AI-powered game hosts? In this episode of the Convo AI World Podcast, Agora's John Moore sits down with Geremie Camara, co-founder of Live Play Mobile, to explore how conversational AI is reshaping live gaming and interactive entertainment. With more than 100,000 hours of live-hosted gameplay, Live Play Mobile has spent years learning what keeps players engaged. Now, the team is applying those lessons to AI avatars that can entertain, personalize experiences, and scale globally alongside human hosts. Geremie shares why real-time infras
In this episode of the Convo AI World Podcast, Hermes Frangoudis sits down with Luka Chkhetiani from AssemblyAI to unpack what it takes to build reliable speech AI for real-world applications. Luka shares how AssemblyAI's mission evolved from making speech recognition accessible to developers into building robust models for real-time transcription, voice agents, conversational intelligence, and messy production environments. The conversation explores why latency alone is the wrong obsession, how turn-to-turn responsiveness changes the user experience, why reliability is now one of the hardest
In this episode, host Hermes Frangoudis interviews Faraz Siddiqi, co-founder and CTO of Bluejay, about testing and monitoring voice AI agents. Faraz explains how Bluejay uses "digital humans" synthetic customers with accents, background noise, and even emotions to run hundreds of parallel simulations. What used to take 10–12 hours of manual calling to test 200 menu items now takes just five minutes, letting you grab coffee while Bluejay finds failures before real users hit them. He shares why latency over 1.5 seconds breaks trust, how a transcription error turned "Dr. Pham" into "Dr. Fan," and
In this special montage episode of the Convo AI World Podcast, host Hermes Frangoudis brings together leading researchers and founders from across the speech‑to‑text space to unpack the voice pipeline from the ground up. The conversation covers how cascading architectures stack up against real‑time speech‑to‑speech systems, why Voice Activity Detection acts as the critical traffic controller, and how enterprises can eliminate model pathologies like hallucinations and omissions through modular “Lego block” integration. Guests from Deepgram, Agora, Soniox, and Rime share hard‑won lessons on achi
In this episode, host Rishi Ahluwalia interviews Ankur Edkie, CEO of Murf AI, about the hidden complexities of scaling enterprise voice AI. Ankur discusses the journey from pre-ChatGPT text-to-speech to building hyper-efficient, human-like voice systems. He unpacks why voice demos feel magical, but production deployments often fail, highlighting the critical gap between lab settings and the variability of real-world acoustics and devices. The conversation covers the challenges of the cascading stack (ASR, LLM, TTS), the importance of turn-taking and latency consistency over raw speed, and Murf
In this episode, host Derek interviews Zeyi, Founder & CEO of WaveSpeedAI, about simplifying AI media generation. Zeyi explains how WaveSpeed provides a unified, high-concurrency API that lets developers easily switch between models like Flux and Wan without managing complex GPU infrastructure. He highlights unique offerings like the 10-minute lip-sync tool InfiniteTalk and video extending, discusses regional preferences in AI-generated faces, and shares cost-saving strategies like low-res generation with upscaling. The episode wraps with Zeyi's advice for AI builders: leverage AI coding tools
In this episode of the Convo AI World Podcast, host Hermes interviews Ricardo Herreros Symons from Speechmatics to explore the evolving landscape of speech recognition and its role as the essential gateway to "LLM magic". The conversation delves into the technical hurdles that prevent speech from being a truly "solved" problem—such as background noise, diverse accents, and specialized terminology—and why Speechmatics prioritizes diarization as a critical requirement for security and accuracy in high-stakes industries like healthcare and finance. Check out video episodes and subscribe to the Co
In this episode of the Convo AI podcast, host Derek Zheng has an in-person conversation in Japan with Yongle Yang, Solution Architect at Dify, to explore how their LLM Ops platform is streamlining AI application development through an intuitive workflow canvas and multi-agent orchestration. Yang details Dify’s "do it for yourself" philosophy and challenges developers to build AI that can "replace" their own roles, freeing them to pursue more creative professional side hustles. Check out video episodes and subscribe to the Convo AI Newsletter at podcast.convoai.world
In this episode of the Convo AI World Podcast, host Derek Zhang sits down for an in-person conversation in Singapore with Dr. James Ong, founder of the Artificial Intelligence International Institute (AIII). With a career spanning 40 years in the AI sector, Dr. Ong shares his vision of "AI for Humanity"—from advocating for UN SDG Goal 18 to building practical governance frameworks. The discussion explores AI in FinTech, agentic oversight, avoiding speculative bubbles, public AI literacy, sovereignty AI, and Singapore’s leadership in AI safety hubs and testing. Check out video episodes and subs
In this episode of the Convo AI World Podcast, Hermes Frangoudis interviews Klemen Simonic, founder and CEO of Soniox, who discusses how his team is achieving native speaker accuracy across 60+ languages. Klemen explains how Soniox leverages unsupervised learning and a universal model architecture to handle seamless language switching and real-time, mid-sentence translation with minimal latency. By prioritizing robustness and low-latency performance over traditional cascading models, Soniox enables high-fidelity voice interfaces for healthcare, wearables, and voice agents, while also breaking
In this episode of the Convo AI World Podcast, Hermes Frangoudis interviews Emilia Molimpakis, CEO and Co-founder of thymia, who discusses how biomarker-enriched voice intelligence is becoming critical safety infrastructure for communications platforms. Emilia explains how thymia goes beyond words to understand human state in real time—analyzing not just what people say, but how they say it. By combining objective vocal biomarkers with platform policy, thymia enables voice systems to recognize risk and respond appropriately as conversations unfold. Check out video episodes and subscribe to the
In this conversation, Derek Zheng and Jia Shen discuss the evolving landscape of the virtual economy, focusing on AI-driven virtual characters and their applications in gaming and entertainment. They share insights from the Tokyo Game Show, the challenges of showcasing AI technology at events, and the unique approach of AKA Virtual in creating animated characters. The discussion also touches on the impact of large language models on virtual idols and the future of the virtual economy, particularly in Southeast Asia. Check out video episodes and subscribe to the Convo AI Newsletter at podcast.c
In this episode of the ConvoAI World Podcast, host Hermes Frangoudis interviews Diana Zhu, Head of the US Office at RiseLink, regarding their development of ultra-low-power edge AI chips designed to make hardware more intelligent and accessible. Diana highlights the BK7259 chip, which utilizes a multi-core architecture and an on-board NPU to enable complex tasks like facial recognition and voice processing entirely on-device for enhanced privacy and speed. Through a strategic partnership with Agora, RiseLink delivers ultra-low latency and barge-in capabilities, allowing for natural, real-time
In this episode of the Convo AI World Podcast, Rishi Ahluwalia interviews Punit Pandey, Co-founder and CIO of Astrosage, who discusses the intersection of astrology and AI. Punit shares his journey, including pivotal moments that led him to realize the potential of conversational AI in transforming astrology. He explains the technology behind the AI astrologer, the importance of emotional intelligence in training AI models, and the challenges of building trust with users. The conversation also touches on the future of astrology as a life guide, the ethical considerations in AI, and the roadmap
In this special episode of the Convo AI World Podcast, Patrick Ferriter interviews Joe Zhaozhi Sun, CEO and co-founder of RoboPoet, at the Fuzozo store in Shanghai to discuss the origins and technology behind the Fuzozo AI companions. They explore the product's design philosophy, which draws on Joe's background in automotive and robot design to prioritize emotional connection and "healing" loneliness for Gen Z users. Joe details the unique "five elements" personalities of the robots and their "Multimodal Emotional Model" (MEM), which utilizes Agora's technology to achieve low-latency voice int
In this episode of the Convo AI World Podcast, Derek Zheng interviews Bruce Yang, Founder and CEO of Agnes AI, discussing the platform's meteoric rise to a $100 million valuation and its acquisition of 3 million users in Southeast Asia. They explore Agnes AI's positioning as a mobile-first, "sovereign AI" that blends productivity with social networking, distinguishing itself from competitors like Manus through a focus on local cultural nuances and social algorithms. Bruce shares insights on their technical architecture—including the proprietary Ava model and token-efficient code agents—and exp
In this episode of the Convo AI World Podcast, Rishi Ahluwalia interviews Supreet Singh, Senior Director of Engineering at Physics Wallah, discussing the transformative role of EdTech and conversational AI in education. Supreet shares his journey from a small city in India to leading engineering efforts in one of the largest EdTech companies. The conversation explores the evolution of conversational AI, its potential to personalize learning, and the challenges of multilingual education in India. Supreet emphasizes the importance of adaptability in AI, the need for transparency, and the future
In this episode of the Convoy AI World Podcast, Hermes Frangoudis interviews Lily Clifford, CEO of Rime AI, discussing the evolution of voice AI technology. They explore the importance of high-quality data, the impact of linguistic nuances on voice models, and the challenges of creating relatable and multilingual voice agents. Lily shares insights on customer experience, the role of R&D in meeting market demands, and the future of conversational voice agents. The conversation highlights the technical bottlenecks in voice AI and the ongoing quest for more human-like interactions in voice techno
In this episode of the Convo AI World Podcast, Hermes Frangoudis interviews Ram Katamaraja, the founder of Colaberry. They discuss the origin of Colaberry, its mission to help individuals transition into tech jobs, and the impact of AI on workforce development. Ram shares insights on the importance of upskilling, the role of conversational AI in enhancing user experience, and the future of work as AI becomes more integrated into various industries. The conversation also touches on the challenges of recruitment in the age of AI and the need for a builder mindset in utilizing AI effectively. Che
In this episode of the Convo AI World Podcast, Rishi Ahluwalia speaks with Sagar Gaonkar, Chief Technology Officer at Eloelo, about the transformative role of conversational AI in the live entertainment industry. They discuss Sagar's extensive experience in video streaming, the challenges of integrating AI in a diverse linguistic landscape like India, and the innovative use cases that conversational AI can unlock for creators. Sagar emphasizes the importance of experimentation, understanding user personas, and the need for tailored solutions in the evolving AI landscape. The conversation also
In this episode of the Convo AI World podcast, Hermes Frangoudis interviews Jeff Lu from Akool, a company revolutionizing video generation technology. They discuss Akool's origin, its innovative approach to visual storytelling, and the various use cases of its technology in marketing, internal communications, and more. Jeff shares insights on the challenges of balancing quality and cost in video generation, the importance of real-time inference, and advancements in video translation. The conversation also touches on Akool's strategy for staying ahead in the rapidly evolving generative AI lands
In this episode of Convo AI World Podcast, we dive deep into the future of AI, telecom, and the evolving role of conversational interfaces with Prof. Merouane Debbah, Founding Director of the Khalifa University 6G Research Center and one of the leading minds behind the Arab world’s first large language models — Noor and Falcon. Check out video episodes and subscribe to the Convo AI Newsletter at podcast.convoai.world
In this episode of the Convo AI World Podcast, Hermes Frangoudis interviews Amogha Srirangarajan, Co-founder and CEO of Carbon Origins. They discuss the evolution of Carbon Origins from last-mile delivery robots to heavy machinery teleoperation, the integration of voice AI and VR in enhancing operator experiences, and the future of robotics in construction and space mining. Amogha shares insights on the challenges of labor shortages in critical industries and how Carbon Origins aims to address these through innovative technology and partnerships. The conversation also touches on ambitious plan
Ziyi Lin, speech engineer on the TEN Framework team, joins the Convo AI World podcast to explore the design and impact of a new open-source Voice Activity Detection (VAD) model. The episode explores the challenges faced with existing VAD solutions, the importance of high-quality training data, and the design choices that led to improved performance metrics. Ziyi explains how VAD functions as a critical component in conversational AI, managing real-time processing and latency, and the advantages of deploying it on edge devices. Check out video episodes and subscribe to the Convo AI Newsletter a
Thibault Mardinli (T-Bot) from Voice AI Space joins to discuss the evolution of Voice AI communities and ecosystems. Hermes and Thibault explore Thibault's journey from building a Voice AI startup to creating an open resource platform, the challenges of discoverability in the fragmented Voice AI landscape, and the democratization of AI expertise through visual interfaces. The conversation covers the spectrum of Voice AI companies from infrastructure to UX-focused products, adoption in emerging markets, privacy considerations, and the future of voice-first interfaces. Thibault shares insights o
