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AssemblyAI released AssemblyAI-TTS-1, its first text-to-speech model, now generally available as a hosted API for live voice agents. It is priced at $15 per 1M characters with unlimited concurrency, supports six languages, 4,000+ voices and instant voice cloning, and exposes HTTP, WebSocket and OpenAI-compatible interfaces with LiveKit and Pipecat reference agents. AssemblyAI's self-reported eval claims 93.7% entity accuracy and 47 ms median time to first byte, while Cekura's independent benchmark measured 159 ms median streaming latency and 81.5% reading accuracy. The launch lacks SSML, speed control, pronunciation dictionaries and emotion tags.
Why it matters: Readers evaluating TTS vendors for voice agents get concrete pricing, interface and benchmark details alongside independent latency results that qualify the vendor's claims.
AssemblyAItext-to-speechvoice agents