Google Nabs Top Talent From AI Voice Startup Hume AI | WIREDSkip to main contentMenuSECURITYPOLITICSTHE BIG STORYBUSINESSSCIENCECULTUREREVIEWSMenuAccountAccountNewslettersSecurityPoliticsThe Big StoryBusinessScienceCultureReviewsChevronMoreExpandThe Big InterviewMagazineEventsWIRED InsiderWIRED ConsultingNewslettersPodcastsVideoMerchSearchSearchSign InSign InWill KnightBusinessJan 22, 2026 7:00 AMGoogle Nabs Top Talent From AI Voice Startup Hume AIHume AI’s CEO, Alan Cowen, will join Google DeepMind along with several top engineers as part of a major licensing deal.Photograph: Kevin Carter/Getty ImagesSave StorySave this storySave StorySave this storyGoogle DeepMind is hiring the CEO and several top engineers from Hume AI, a startup working on emotionally intelligent voice interfaces, as part of a new licensing agreement, WIRED has learned.Financial details of the deal are confidential, but Hume AI says the company will continue to supply its technology to other frontier AI labs.The deal is the latest sign that AI companies expect voice mode to become an increasingly important interface for interacting with customers—and that understanding a user’s emotions and mood based on their voice interactions is key.Hume AI expects to bring in $100 million in revenue in 2026 as it works with AI labs on tuning AI models to be more capable and useful voice helpers, says John Beadle, cofounder and managing partner of AEGIS Ventures, which invested in Hume AI. So far, the company has raised $74 million in funding.CEO Alan Cowen, who has a PhD in psychology, will join Google DeepMind along with roughly seven other engineers. Cowen and the other Hume AI recruits will help Google DeepMind integrate voice and emotional intelligence into its latest models, according to sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they aren’t authorized to speak publicly about the deal.Hume AI has invested millions in developing models and tools to hone realistic voice interfaces and to detect emotions in the voices of users. The company trains its models by having experts annotate emotional cues in real conversations. At Google, Cowen and his colleagues will help the tech giant integrate voice and emotion technology into its frontier models, sources say.“Voice is going to become a primary interface for AI, that is absolutely where it's headed,” says Andrew Ettinger, an experienced investor and executive who is taking over as the CEO of Hume AI. Ettinger says the company will be releasing its latest models in the coming months.Beadle, of AEGIS Ventures, says AI models that can detect a user’s emotions and adapt accordingly will become increasingly valuable, not only for consumer devices but also in customer support. “On the intelligence side, AI models are quite good at this point, but from the dimension of general helpfulness—do they understand your emotion and can they respond in a way that enables you to achieve whatever goal you're driving towards—we think there's a huge amount of opportunity for improvement,” Beadle says.The Hume AI deal could position Google to compete even more aggressively with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which already features a lifelike voice mode. Google also recently partnered with Apple as part of a multiyear agreement that will see Google Gemini power a new version of Siri.The Hume AI deal is the latest arrangement that blurs the line between a partnership and a conventional acquisition. Such arrangements allow big tech companies to extract high-value talent without the government oversight that comes with a traditional acquisition—though the Federal Trade Commission recently said it will begin scrutinizing so-called “aqui-hires.”In 2024, Google DeepMind reportedly paid $3 billion to license technology from Character.ai, a company working on lifelike chatbot companions. Similar deals have seen Microsoft hire top talent from Inflection; Amazon recruit the team behind Adept; and Meta snag the CEO of Scale AI.You Might Also LikeIn your inbox: The week’s biggest tech news in perspectiveThe dominance of the dollar is coming to an endBig Story: Understanding Trump’s retro coup in VenezuelaBillion-dollar data centers are taking over the worldLivestream AMA: Welcome to the Chinese centuryWill Knight is a senior writer for WIRED, covering artificial intelligence. He writes the AI Lab newsletter, a weekly dispatch from beyond the cutting edge of AI—sign up here. 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Google has significantly bolstered its artificial intelligence capabilities by securing a major licensing deal with Hume AI, a startup specializing in emotionally intelligent voice interfaces. This strategic move involves the CEO of Hume AI, Alan Cowen, and several key engineers joining Google DeepMind, alongside a substantial licensing agreement. The deal underscores the growing recognition of voice-based AI and the importance of incorporating emotional understanding into these interactions. Hume AI, having raised $74 million in funding, developed models and tools to refine realistic voice interfaces and detect emotions within user voices, a process driven by expert annotations of real conversations. Google’s acquisition of this technology suggests a focused effort to integrate voice and emotional intelligence into its cutting-edge AI models, particularly as Google seeks to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and further develop its Siri integration with Apple. This arrangement—blurring the lines between partnership and acquisition—reflects a trend of large tech companies extracting high-value talent through such deals, attracting top experts from innovative startups. The move positions Google to aggressively pursue the potential of voice interfaces, expanding its AI portfolio and anticipating the increasing demand for emotionally nuanced digital interactions. Financial details remain confidential, but Hume AI anticipates generating $100 million in revenue in 2026 through its collaborations with AI labs. The acquisition is indicative of a broader industry trend – that adapting to user emotion is a key differentiator in the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, making it a valuable asset for tech giants.