Google is deepening its investment in AI across both voice interfaces and personalized search, as it moves to strengthen the Gemini ecosystem. Under a new licensing agreement, Google DeepMind has brought in Alan Cowen, founder and chief executive of Hume AI, along with several senior engineers, to advance Gemini’s voice capabilities. Hume AI will continue operating independently under new CEO Andrew Ettinger, supplying its emotion-aware voice technology to other partners and planning new model releases later this year.
The move underscores intensifying competition around voice as a core AI interface. Hume AI is known for models that interpret emotional tone in speech and has raised close to $80 million to date. The arrangement reflects a broader industry trend of incumbent AI firms acquiring talent rather than entire companies amid rising regulatory scrutiny.
Separately, Google has begun rolling out “Personal Intelligence” to AI Mode, extending Gemini’s ability to personalize responses by drawing on user data from Gmail, Photos, Search, and YouTube. Robby Stein said the opt-in feature allows AI Mode to deliver more context-aware recommendations while remaining under user control. Together, the developments highlight Google’s strategy to combine voice, personalization, and large-scale user data to differentiate its AI offerings.
