AI, Inc. (株式会社エーアイ) is a Japanese company specialized in providing and developing speech synthesizers, having its own product called AITalk, the system upon which VOICEROID, galaco Talk, Talk Ex, Gynoid Talk, and A.I.VOICE are based. It is located in Tokyo, Japan, and is the main creator behind Kotonoha Akane & Aoi and Iori Yuzuru.
History
AI, Inc. was founded on April 1, 2003 with the goal of providing and developing speech-synthesis software with their respective voicebanks, in addition to consulting businesses about such topic: speech synthesis. Its goal was to provide the best speech-synthesis software around the world and create a culture around sound information so that it can contribute to our daily lives around development of speech-synthesis software and services.
2019
In late 2019, the company announced that it would be upgrading AITalk's engine from AITalk®4 to AITalk®5.[1] Unlike previous iterations of the engine which used corpus-based speech synthesis and phoneme and rhythm dictionaries, AITalk®5 would use deep neural network speech synthesis instead. This would allow AITalk®5 vocals to speak more naturally and express multiple emotions more smoothly. Without a dictionary that a corpus-based speech synthesis would require, the deep learning model would require less recordings and thus be less expensive for customers as well.[2]
2020
On June 26, 2020, Kotonoha Akane & Aoi were announced to receive a singing voice database for Synthesizer V Studio, making them the first and only entry as Synthesizer V vocalists from AI, Inc. as well as the company's first singing voice library overall.[3] On July 30, the pair released as a single shared Standard voice database where producers adjusted the voice parameters to represent the sister they wanted.
Continuing development of speech synthesis, in September, it was revealed that the commercial brand of AITalk®5 would be called A.I.VOICE.[4] A.I.VOICE was scheduled for a February 2021 launch beginning with the Kotonoha sisters and Iori Yuzuru, with more characters to be announced later for July and December. In December 2020, details about the Kotonohas' and Yuzuru's A.I.VOICE voicebanks were revealed, along with a release date of February 22, 2021.[5]
2021 & 2022
AI, Inc. planned to have English and Chinese A.I.VOICE voicebanks by December 2021, as well as singing synthesizer voicebanks.[6] Kotonoha Akane & Aoi English was released on December 10, 2021 as expected, becoming the first and only English A.I.VOICE product to this date;[7] but their Mandarin Chinese counterpart, dubbed Kotonoha Talk Chinese, would not release until the next year on September 22, 2022.[8][9] As for singing voicebanks, Kotonoha Akane & Aoi Song Library was released for the NEUTRINO engine, being distributed for free exclusively to registered owners of their A.I.VOICE products.[tweet(s) needed]
2023
On June 13, 2023, Yamaha Corporation and AI, Inc. announced a joint collaboration for an A.I.VOICE version of ZOLA Project,[10][11] which was released along with their also-announced VOCALOID6 voicebanks on June 20.[12] The two companies would again collaborate together for two more A.I.VOICE products, one based on Unity-chan which was released on August 4,[13] and another loosely inspired by (but not completely based on) the VY series and dubbed the "VY Project" (featuring the vocals VY T-01, VY T-02, and VY Nancy) which was released on September 4.[14]
On October 12, AI, Inc. announced that the AITalk engine was upgraded to AITalk®6;[15] this new version served as the basis for A.I.VOICE6, which was previously revealed on September 9[16] and later set for release on December 22[17][18] along with updated versions of the Kotonoha sisters and Iori Yuzuru (among other characters).[19][20]
2025
On March 21, 2025, AI, Inc. announced that its A.I.VOICE Live Broadcast #52 would be held on March 28 and that it would be hosted by Yui Sakakibara, the voice provider of Kotonoha Akane and Aoi, as well as AI's own Keina Kurita. A major announcement by the Kotonoha sisters was listed among the topics to be talked about there.[21][22]
On March 27, AI, Inc. announced that Akane and Aoi would be receiving singing voicebanks for VOCALOID6, with development and distribution in the hands of Internet Co., Ltd.; the release date was set to coincide with the sisters' official birthday on April 25.[23][24][25]
About
Key people
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Keina Kurita (栗田圭奈) is a software engineer, music creator, and voice synthesis specialist at AI, Inc. and the main host of the A.I.VOICE Live Broadcasts. |
Voicebanks
VOCALOID6 (Announced)
Promotional involvement
- Main article: AI, Inc./Gallery
References
- ↑ https://ssl4.eir-parts.net/doc/4388/tdnet/1751595/00.pdf
- ↑ https://vocaverse.network/threads/aitalk-getting-deep-learning-based-engine-update-april-2020-a-i-voice-brand.2239/#post-15621
- ↑ https://x.com/ahsoft/status/1276352204547358720
- ↑ https://www.ai-j.jp/20200930_2
- ↑ https://www.ai-j.jp/20201218
- ↑ https://www.ai-j.jp/20201109
- ↑ https://x.com/AIVOICE_PR/status/1456147408912408577
- ↑ https://x.com/AIVOICE_PR/status/1563052055530737665
- ↑ https://x.com/AIVOICE_PR_EN/status/1563122663978967042
- ↑ https://www.yamaha.com/ja/news_release/2023/23061302/
- ↑ https://www.ai-j.jp/topics/8524/
- ↑ https://x.com/vocaloid_yamaha/status/1671048346063237121
- ↑ https://x.com/AIVOICE_PR/status/1679809875705229312
- ↑ https://x.com/soundud/status/2700200325729823777
- ↑ https://www.ai-j.jp/topics/9371/
- ↑ https://x.com/AIVOICE_PR/status/1700091204539756800
- ↑ https://www.ai-j.jp/topics/9763/
- ↑ https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000051.000099620.html
- ↑ https://x.com/AIVOICE_PR/status/1722926632791667123
- ↑ https://x.com/AIVOICE_PR/status/1722926831853269221
- ↑ https://x.com/AIVOICE_PR/status/1903026830275178504
- ↑ https://x.com/AIVOICE_PR/status/1903026833136001439
- ↑ https://aivoice.jp/news/8545/
- ↑ https://x.com/AIVOICE_PR/status/1905146517867897230
- ↑ https://x.com/INTERNETjp/status/1905147655841538410
External links
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