Arts & Entertainment

K-pop group BTS’s agency acquires majority stake In voice AI startup

Seoul, Jan 31 (EFE).- South Korean company Hybe, the agency behind K-pop band BTS, announced Tuesday an investment of KRW 45 billion ($ 37 million) to become the majority shareholder of artificial intelligence company Supertone, specializing in speech synthesizers.

Hybe first acquired shares of Supertone in 2021, buying 18.2 percent of the start-up company when it still operated under the name Big Hit Entertainment, and has now taken ownership of 56.1 percent of the company, according to the Yonhap news agency.

Founded in 2020, Supertone works with a sound artificial intelligence specialized in voice synthesizers with a very realistic quality with the ability to sing, a technology that has already been introduced in local music programs.

Among the works publicized by the company is the restoration of voices of well-known deceased South Korean singers such as Kim Kwang-seok, Kim Hyun-sik, Yu Jae-ha and Yim Yun-taek.

Hybe hopes this investment will help create synergies between both companies to improve their content.

“We have high expectations in creating new content that combines Supertone’s synthetic AI voice technology, which enables realistic acting and singing, and Hybe’s production know-how,” agency CEO Park Ji won said in a statement. EFE

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