Intermediate · Generative AI

Text-to-Speech

Visual diagram · (in preparation) · Math · (in preparation) · Worked example · 3 difficulty levels.

TL;DR. A model that converts written text into natural-sounding spoken audio.

Technical Definition

A model that converts written text into natural-sounding spoken audio.

How it works

Modern TTS systems like ElevenLabs, OpenAI TTS, and Google's Tacotron use neural vocoders to produce expressive, multilingual voices, often from just a few seconds of reference audio. They power audiobooks, accessibility tools, voice agents, and synthetic dubbing.

Related Concepts

• Multi-Modal AI — AI systems that process and reason across multiple data types — text, images, audio, video — in a unified model.
• Speech-to-Text — Automatic transcription of spoken audio into written text.
• Generative AI — An AI field focused on creating models that can generate novel and complex content, such as text, images, audio, and video, that is coherent and original.