Clubhouse, the once popular live audio app, announced today that users can now send text messages to friends and hear those texts in the sender's custom voice.
To stay relevant amid user churn, Clubhouse debuted group audio chats. Group audio chat allows members to send asynchronous audio messages to each other, and the messages appear in a format similar to Instagram Stories.
With today's announcement, the company acknowledges that users may not be able to send voice messages to each other. So, when you train your custom voice and send a text, your friends will be able to hear your message with the recreated voice. Once the AI voice reads your message, the app will show an indicator to your friend.
Image credits: club house
The company said in a blog post that the feature still leaves you feeling like you're chatting with a friend in real time.
“Imagine you're texting a friend, but the other person is hearing your words as if you actually said them. With a custom voice, speaking and typing Everything you do, read and listen to feels seamless, so you never lose the feeling of having a live conversation,” the company says.
Clubhouse claims that even if the AI is trained to read just a few phrases, it can reproduce a voice close to the original. The company says its AI can't replicate your laughter very well (so don't type “hahaha”?).
Image credits: club house
If you don't feel comfortable recording audio, the company can also generate it on its own. The startup didn't provide details, but it will likely be a text-to-speech model.
This feature is currently only available in the United States.
Usage of this app has declined over the past few years. The company last raised a round, reportedly valued at $4 billion. The company has made several layoffs in recent years. But last year the company claimed it had several years of runway remaining. The company is currently experimenting with AI-powered features that facilitate conversations between friends in hopes that users will continue to use it.
Notably, last year, Apple released a feature called Personal Voice that creates a voice similar to your own. This is especially helpful for people who are at risk of losing their ability to speak due to conditions such as ALS.