Will Jones
Image by rawpixel.com on Magnific
Los Angeles has always been a town that runs on voices. Think of the voice actors in Burbank booths, the podcast hosts recording in spare bedrooms in Highland Park, the dubbing teams turning a hit series into a dozen languages before it airs overseas, and the game studios casting hundreds of characters for a single title. So when a company built around AI voice and audio says it is putting down deeper roots in California, people here pay attention.
This summer, one of the best-known names in voice AI announced plans to hire 173 people across the state, and it named Los Angeles as one of its two primary California hubs. Here is what the company actually said, and what it could mean for the city’s creative workers and businesses.
What the Announcement Says
In a blog post published on June 22, 2026, and updated on October 19, the voice AI company ElevenLabs said it will hire 173 people across California in research, engineering, sales and other roles. The company describes these as high-paying jobs and says it will invest millions of dollars in its California presence.
The expansion comes with state support. ElevenLabs was awarded an incentive through the California Competes Tax Credit program, better known as CalCompetes, which is run by the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). The award is tied to the jobs and investment the company has committed to. Governor Gavin Newsom is quoted in the post saying, “California is where the future is built.”
The company already has staff around the state, and the post names San Francisco and Los Angeles as its primary California hubs. Its reasoning is short and direct: it sees California as the global center of AI and wants to add voice and audio AI to that mix. Open roles are listed on its careers page.
Why Voice AI and Los Angeles Make Sense Together
The post doesn’t single out Hollywood or the game industry, but it’s hard to read “Los Angeles hub” and “voice AI” in the same sentence without thinking about the local economy. LA is home to a huge share of the people who write, perform, record, mix and localize audio for a living. Film and TV, animation, video games, podcasts, audiobooks and advertising all depend on the human voice, and all of them are already asking how AI tools fit into their work.
The customer examples in the post give a sense of what the company’s technology is used for today. It points to MasterClass conversations with AI experts like Gordon Ramsay, Chess.com coaching players in grandmasters’ voices, Square’s AI-powered voice ordering for restaurants, Meta dubbing Reels into more than 90 languages, and Nvidia producing multilingual keynotes. That mix of education, consumer apps, hospitality and big tech shows how far voice technology now reaches beyond a recording studio.
Dubbing and the Global Audience
Of all the examples in the post, the Meta one may land closest to home. Dubbing short videos into more than 90 languages is the kind of work that used to take a lot of time, money and coordination. LA studios have long exported entertainment to the world, and localization is a big part of how a show, a trailer or a game finds an audience in other countries.
AI dubbing doesn’t replace the craft of a great localization team, but it can change the math for smaller projects. A local creator with a strong YouTube channel, a documentary team with a tight budget or an indie developer releasing a first game could reach viewers and players who would never have heard their work otherwise. The creative decisions about tone, timing and cultural fit still need people who understand both the material and the audience.
Trust, Consent and Safety
Any honest conversation about AI voices in Los Angeles has to include the people whose voices are their living. Performers and their unions have pushed for clear rules on consent, credit and pay when AI is involved, and a growing local presence means voice AI companies will be having those conversations with their neighbors.
The post touches on safety too. ElevenLabs says it is proud to be part of the task force on countering tech-enabled fraud set up by the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, a sign that the company sees misuse of voice technology as a problem worth working on with the state. Voice scams aimed at families and businesses are a real worry, and it helps to have the people who build these tools in the room.
The company also says it wants to work with the state on making government information and services more accessible through voice AI. The groups it names include visually impaired people, people with low literacy or learning differences, elderly residents and linguistically diverse communities. In a county where residents speak a long list of languages at home, that last point matters.
What It Could Mean Locally
For job seekers, the most concrete news is the hiring itself. The 173 roles are spread across the state rather than all in LA, and they cover research, engineering, sales and other functions, so they are not limited to engineers. Anyone curious should check the careers page directly for current openings and locations.
For the wider creative community, the impact will depend on what the company does here over the next few years. A local hub can mean more chances for small production houses, indie game teams and podcast networks to meet the people building these tools and tell them what creative work actually needs.
Los Angeles has seen plenty of new technology arrive, from sound film to streaming, and each wave changed how stories get made. Voice AI is the latest. With a company in the field naming LA as a primary hub, the people who make this city sound the way it does will get a closer look at where it is headed, and maybe a say in it.