TL;DRThe UK government signed a memorandum of understanding with $11bn voice AI company ElevenLabs covering public service accessibility, AI safety research with AISI, and talent development. It is the fifth such deal with a frontier AI company.
The UK government and ElevenLabs have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore how voice AI can improve public services, deepen safety research, and build AI talent in the UK. The MoU, signed by AI Minister Kanishka Narayan and ElevenLabs CEO Mateusz Staniszewski, was published on Sunday by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
ElevenLabs, which raised $500 million in a Sequoia-led Series D in February at an $11 billion valuation, is the latest frontier AI company to strike a formal partnership with the UK government. Similar MoUs have already been signed with OpenAI and Google DeepMind, though a Computing investigation found that eight months after signing, the OpenAI deal had produced no formal trials across government.
What the deal covers
The MoU has three pillars. The first focuses on public sector accessibility. ElevenLabs and DSIT will explore how voice AI can help citizens access government information and services, with particular attention to people with visual impairments, low literacy, low digital confidence, and linguistically diverse communities. The agreement specifically mentions Welsh-language services and the many other languages spoken across the UK.
