Investing in Sesame AI: The Future of Computing is in Your Ears
For decades, the way we interact with computers has been evolving. In the 1980s, we used bulky keyboards, then moved to mice and graphical user interfaces (GUIs). The 2010s brought smartphones with touchscreens. Each step has aimed to make interacting with technology feel more seamless and intuitive.
But despite advancements, we still rely heavily on screens. What’s next? I believe the answer lies in speech.
Speech is the most natural way humans communicate, yet its potential in human-computer interaction has been largely untapped, beyond basic commands like, “Alexa, turn off the lights.” Artificial intelligence (AI), however, has advanced dramatically in recent years. When combined with the right hardware, advancements in speech and language processing, both understanding and generation, could create a truly human-like computing interface.
This is where Sesame comes in. It’s centered on a simple, but perhaps unexpected, idea: The future of augmented reality (AR) isn’t in the screens of AR glasses; it’s in the audio experience.
Historically, the emotional flatness of AI audio has been a significant hurdle, sounding unnatural and often robotic. Sesame removes the visual display from AR glasses and focuses on a robust audio-first AI system. This approach promises a computing experience that feels far more seamless and intuitive.
Sesame’s team has developed a Conversational Speech Model (CSM) that breaks new ground in speech modeling. You can experience this research preview and interact with Maya, the first AI companion. It’s not quite past the uncanny valley, but it’s getting close.
I’ve known the founding team for a while, and there are few people with deeper understanding of this opportunity. Sesame cofounders Brendan Iribe and Ankit Kumar are two of them.
Brennan Iribe, co-founder and CEO of Oculus, has a long track record of building and selling successful hardware platforms. Ankit Kumar, one of the co-founders of Ubiquity6 and Discord’s Clyde AI engineering lead, has firsthand experience producing language and speech models at scale.
After months of working together, Sesame was born. We are very excited to have led the company’s Series A and help it grow into the next major consumer computing platform. If you’re ready to redefine how we interact with computers, explore the career opportunities with Sesame in AI, hardware, product, and design.
Anjney Midha is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he invests in AI, infrastructure, and open-source technologies.
