How to build a multilingual conversational AI voice assistant

We heard about ElevenLabs' AI voice assistant from one of our board members, Chris Mairs, so we thought we'd invite him to write the introduction for this post, which goes on to explain how you can build your own using Raspberry Pi.

Chris: I'm one of the board members at Raspberry Pi, and I first got introduced to ElevenLabs when I started a free weekly blog this summer: The Open Eyed Man.

The blog explores life as a blind man in a visual world, with an optimistic view on how AI - and, in particular, conversational voice agents - could be transformative. ElevenLabs kindly invited me to create a clone of my own voice in their recording studio, and there is now a personalised audio narration using that scarily realistic clone at the top of each The Open Eyed Man post. I'd love people to take a look or a listen, and to subscribe and share; the content is often lighthearted, but hopefully insightful and accessible to non-technical readers.

And don't worry - the conversational assistant that Thor from ElevenLabs shows you how to build below absolutely does not use the clone of my voice. There are far more mellifluous and cheery options.

Build your own AI voice assistant

Thor Schaeff's setup enables you to run ElevenLabs' conversational AI model on a Raspberry Pi, making it function as an AI assistant that can answer your questions completely hands-free.

Kit list

• A Raspberry Pi (Raspberry Pi 5 or similar would work best for crunching this amount of data)
• A small microphone and speaker (Thor chose a Bluetooth speaker with a built-in microphone)
• Python 3.9 or higher installed on your Raspberry Pi
• An ElevenLabs account with an API key

Multilingual and customisable

Thor's setup wakes up to the hotword "Hey Eleven", but you can tailor this to your own preference as you code. His build speaks to him in an American male accent, but you can also choose your own voice option for your AI buddy.

The AI model is multilingual, meaning it can respond to you in a language of your choosing. If you're still on Twitter/X, there's a fun demo video of Thor showing off his AI assistant's German speaking skills.

Full tutorial

Here's Thor's thoughtfully detailed step-by-step build guide. Alternatively, you can check out the project's GitHub repo. First things first: sign up for an ElevenLabs account and have a poke around.

Just think how happy you'll make your green Duolingo owl if you pull this build off and start practising your language skills throughout the day, rather than waiting for it to turn fiery red and scream at you for losing your streak at 11pm.