ElevenLabs Partners with Karnataka Gov to Expand Voice AI Adoption

ElevenLabs has committed to restoring 1 million voices for people who have permanently lost their ability to speak due to conditions including ALS, cerebral palsy, throat cancer, and multiple sclerosis.

ElevenLabs, a NY-based AI research and product company, has partnered with the Karnataka government to expand the responsible use of Voice AI across citizen services, accessibility, and social impact.

The MoU also covers a state-level Voice AI safety framework and efforts to restore the voices of people who have lost the ability to speak.

The partnership has been signed between the Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS), under the Department of Electronics, Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science and Technology, and ElevenLabs, specialising in generative voice AI, speech synthesis, voice cloning and conversational AI.

The agreement marks ElevenLabs’ first MoU with an Indian state government.

The collaboration will focus on three areas: developing a platform-agnostic Voice AI safety framework, using Voice AI for voice restoration, and improving access to government services through voice-based technologies.

The safety framework is expected to examine deepfake detection, audio provenance, watermarking, consent for voice cloning, restrictions on cloning public figures, and safeguards against voice fraud and impersonation.

“AI must be measured by the difference it makes to people's lives,” Karnataka Minister for Home, IT & BT and E-Governance Priyank Kharge said. “Voice AI presents an opportunity to make government more accessible and citizen-centric, but it also brings new responsibilities around safety, consent and trust. Through this partnership, Karnataka can develop stronger safeguards for the responsible use of voice AI while exploring applications that address real challenges. Helping people who have lost the ability to speak communicate again in a voice of their own is a powerful example of using technology for public good.”

ElevenLabs has committed to restoring 1 million voices for people who have permanently lost their ability to speak due to conditions including ALS, cerebral palsy, throat cancer and multiple sclerosis.

The company is working with organisations including the ALS Care and Support Foundation, Organisation for Rare Diseases India, Yes, We Can, Nipman Foundation and The Quantum Hub.

ElevenLabs Co-founder and CEO Mati Staniszewski said, “Voice is the most natural way people interact with technology, and we are excited to explore how voice AI can make citizen services more accessible and restore voices of those who have lost theirs.”

The company has also said its technology has been provided free to more than 75 NGOs in India.

India has become ElevenLabs’ second-largest market after the US. Indian businesses recorded more than 100 million conversations through ElevenAgents over the past year, with over 70% taking place in Hindi, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu.

More than 25,000 Indian developers and businesses are also using the company’s API each month, representing around 2.5 times growth over the previous year.

The Karnataka partnership comes as ElevenLabs expands from speech generation and voice cloning into conversational AI systems capable of understanding requests and completing workflows.

The company has also been developing dedicated government applications for multilingual, accessible public services, making Voice AI an emerging interface between citizens and government systems.

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