Fangchang Ma

Cofounder & CEO @nuance_AI. Ex-Apple. PhD at @MIT.

[Fangchang Ma @fangchangma]

The first AI persona you’ll actually want to meet face-to-face.

Most AI personas stare blankly while you talk. Emma reacts while you’re still speaking.

After 18 months of research at @nuance_ai, this is Emma, built on Nuplex, our full-duplex audiovisual foundation model.

[Fangchang Ma @fangchangma]

@nuance_ai @Kyzyx @KarrenYangz2 @whoisnnamdi @lightspeedvp Great conversation @whoisnnamdi!

[Nuance Labs @nuance_ai]

Our founders @fangchangma @Kyzyx @KarrenYangz2 spoke with @whoisnnamdi, lead investor from @lightspeedvp in our Series A, about why nuanced conversation is so difficult for AI.

[Lightspeed @lightspeedvp]

@nuance_ai Check out the full episode here: https://t.co/HE6MsoIhcF

[Fangchang Ma @fangchangma]

@lightspeedvp @nuance_ai This was a great conversation! Excited for everyone to hear more about what we're building at @nuance_ai.

[Fangchang Ma @fangchangma]

Great conversation with our Series A lead @whoisnnamdi on what we're building at @nuance_ai

[Lightspeed @lightspeedvp]

AI understands language, but can it master the art of conversation?

Some AI avatars today still operate like walkie-talkies. You speak, they process, then they respond. They can miss the subtle cues that make conversations feel human.

@nuance_ai is rethinking that problem from the ground up.

Co-founders @Fangchangma, @Kyzyx, and @KarrenYangz2 joined @whoisnnamdi on The Investment Memo to discuss their full-duplex foundation model, the science of emotional intelligence, and why the future of AI interaction extends beyond text.

“LLMs are trained on the task of next-token prediction… We’re doing almost a parallel task where we’re focusing on next-behavior prediction,” Fangchang explains.

We recently led their $50M Series A because we believe the future of AI interaction hinges on building systems that can better understand human communication.

Tune into the full episode below.

0:00 Why LLMs Fake Conversation And Introducing Nuance Labs
2:06 Why Audiovisual And The Limits Of Text
5:32 Cascaded Systems Latency And Broken Causality
10:04 The Full-Duplex Engine
14:24 Feeling Human And The Data Problem
18:04 Founder Origins, Team, Hiring, And Culture
29:40 Seattle Talent
31:44 Real Time IQ And EQ
38:09 Lessons From ElevenLabs Use Cases And Competition
45:10 Fundraising What The Capital Unlocks And The Vision

[Lightspeed @lightspeedvp]

AI understands language, but can it master the art of conversation?

Some AI avatars today still operate like walkie-talkies. You speak, they process, then they respond. They can miss the subtle cues that make conversations feel human.

@nuance_ai is rethinking that problem from the ground up.

Co-founders @Fangchangma, @Kyzyx, and @KarrenYangz2 joined @whoisnnamdi on The Investment Memo to discuss their full-duplex foundation model, the science of emotional intelligence, and why the future of AI interaction extends beyond text.

“LLMs are trained on the task of next-token prediction… We’re doing almost a parallel task where we’re focusing on next-behavior prediction,” Fangchang explains.

We recently led their $50M Series A because we believe the future of AI interaction hinges on building systems that can better understand human communication.

Tune into the full episode below.

0:00 Why LLMs Fake Conversation And Introducing Nuance Labs
2:06 Why Audiovisual And The Limits Of Text
5:32 Cascaded Systems Latency And Broken Causality
10:04 The Full-Duplex Engine
14:24 Feeling Human And The Data Problem
18:04 Founder Origins, Team, Hiring, And Culture
29:40 Seattle Talent
31:44 Real Time IQ And EQ
38:09 Lessons From ElevenLabs Use Cases And Competition
45:10 Fundraising What The Capital Unlocks And The Vision

[Nuance Labs @nuance_ai]

Our Nuplex model is a step-change for realism in AI personas. We are keenly aware of how powerful this technology can be.

Here's how we think about safety, identity, and building good products 🧵

[Fangchang Ma @fangchangma]

@claudiavanea @teslantir @nuance_ai I didn’t even realize Emma could do this!

[Fangchang Ma @fangchangma]

The first AI persona you’ll actually want to meet face-to-face.

Most AI personas stare blankly while you talk. Emma reacts while you’re still speaking.

After 18 months of research at @nuance_ai, this is Emma, built on Nuplex, our full-duplex audiovisual foundation model.

[Fangchang Ma @fangchangma]

@nuance_ai This is core to who we are as a company!

[Fangchang Ma @fangchangma]

I'm very proud of the way this team approaches safety and the responsibility of creating models this capable.

[Nuance Labs @nuance_ai]

Our Nuplex model is a step-change for realism in AI personas. We are keenly aware of how powerful this technology can be.

Here's how we think about safety, identity, and building good products 🧵

[Nuance Labs @nuance_ai]

Another core value is respect for personal identity.

The Emma persona is based on a real actress, who licensed her likeness, knows how we're using it, and even came up with the name.

We met over 200 actors and actresses during casting, and decided to open our research preview with Emma because the actress we worked with was so talented. That's a big part of what makes Emma uniquely expressive.

[Fangchang Ma @fangchangma]

@Scobleizer @nuance_ai @claudiavanea We are staying on the side of being overly cautious to start (probably annoyingly so), but are also working hard on rolling things out safely to more use cases.

I'm glad you have been impressed with the technology!

[Fangchang Ma @fangchangma]

@AdemVessell_o @Scobleizer @nuance_ai So much fun!

[Fangchang Ma @fangchangma]

@DVremenko @rayruizhiliao @peakxvpartners @rauchg @sternhenri @jefrankle @cjc @daniel_levine @inkbox_ai @alxwlcx Give people what they want! 🔥

[Fangchang Ma @fangchangma]

@scoob20_ @nuance_ai Appreciate it!

[Fangchang Ma @fangchangma]

@rissa_cao @FishAudio Congrats @rissa_cao and team!

[Fangchang Ma @fangchangma]

@will123195 @nuance_ai Wow really cool! Did you speed up her video? Was she talking too slow?

[Fangchang Ma @fangchangma]

@mustafaergisi Thx for sharing your experience!

[Fangchang Ma @fangchangma]

@sci_fi_queen Wow 20 minutes!! Glad you enjoyed it