Plenty to talk about at Speech

A machine learning company founded by two University of Edinburgh students is embarking on a rapid growth strategy following the launch of its revolutionary software platform, first featured in bestselling video games Gears of War 4 and Call of Duty WWII.

Speech Graphics has experienced a 33 per cent growth in turnover, hitting £800,000 in the last year and has increased its workforce by nearly a third.

The company already plays a leading role in the videogames market, for lip-sync and facial animation, working with six out of ten global animation studios, including Microsoft, Warner Bros, and Activision.

Following advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and speech technology, the business is now expanding operations into financial services and healthcare.

Gregor Hofer, chief executive and co-founder, said: “The intelligent virtual assistants market is expected to see a massive increase over the next few years, from $750 million to an estimated $12.3 billion by 2024.

“Our track record in the games sector and our recent transition from a service company to a Saas [software as a service] business model puts us in a powerful position to be able to grow the company.”

He added: “Unfortunately avatars often negatively impact customer experience because they lack emotion. Achieving real-time delivery of conversational AI is hard, especially when combined with high-fidelity animation. It requires expertise in voice networking, visualisation, emotional analytics and speech-technology.”

Speech Graphics was founded by Hofer and Michael Berger out of the University of Edinburgh’s PHD program in speech technology.