15 (software engineer)
Software engineer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
15 is a software engineer and artificial intelligence researcher. He is best known for creating the text-to-speech website 15.ai,[1] which is credited with popularizing AI voice cloning,[2][3] and his subsequent role in the Voiceverse NFT plagiarism scandal, in which an NFT company called Voiceverse plagiarized 15.ai in an attempt to market their partnership with voice actor Troy Baker.[4][5][6][7] The pseudonym 15 is a reference to his claim that 15 seconds of speech is sufficient to clone a voice up to human standards, which was later corroborated by OpenAI.[8][9]
15 | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Occupations | Software engineer, artificial intelligence researcher |
| Notable work | 15.ai, Artist Alley |
Education and career
15 attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he began developing voice AI technology as an undergraduate.[10][11] In 2019, his startup was accepted into the Y Combinator accelerator. Following his departure, he developed and launched 15.ai in March 2020.[9]
In January 2022, 15 revealed on X that the blockchain company Voiceverse had plagiarized from 15.ai and sold his work as an NFT. Within an hour of being confronted, Voiceverse confessed and stated that their marketing team had used 15.ai without proper attribution while rushing to create a technology demo to coincide with their partnership announcement with voice actor Troy Baker. In response, 15 replied "Go fuck yourself"; the interaction went viral and garnered a large amount of support for the developer.[12]
In May 2026, 15 announced the indefinite closure of 15.ai so that he could focus his attention on founding Artist Alley, a fandom marketplace catered toward artists.[13]