Simon Poghosyan is the founder and CEO of GSpeech, a web-based AI platform that helps make online content more accessible by converting text into natural-sounding audio in over 70 languages. With a background in VLSI Design and a strong interest in programming and user experience, Simon created GSpeech to simplify the way websites can offer voice-enabled content.
Today, GSpeech generates around 200 million characters of audio each month and is used across 70+ countries, with its customizable audio players serving over 200,000 plays monthly. Having recently surpassed 1 billion characters of audio generated in total, GSpeech continues to grow rapidly. The platform is designed to be easy to integrate — requiring just a single line of code — and supports creators, educators, and businesses in making their content more inclusive and engaging.
GSpeech is also used on all of our English pages, you can listen to this article and how well GSpeech performs by clicking on the play button.
Your background in VLSI Design (Very Large Scale Integration) and early programming experience laid a strong technical foundation. What inspired your shift from microelectronics to building AI-powered software, and how did that lead to the creation of GSpeech?
My passion for problem-solving began in high school, driven by a love for mathematics and physics. That interest led me to earn a Bachelor’s (2009) and Master’s (2011) in VLSI Design from the State Engineering University of Armenia, in collaboration with Synopsys Armenia. Studying physics trained me in precision and analytical thinking, but it was during my second year that I discovered programming — starting with the Pascal language — and immediately fell in love with it. My friend and I would complete coursework assignments as soon as we received them, even though we had six months to finish. Then, for fun, we started doing the assignments of other students.
This passion led me deeper into software development. I began with website creation, then built my own CMS. After completing several projects in process automation and designing data management architectures, I realized how much I loved building digital solutions for web interfaces.Through the 2GLux project, I collaborated with Edvard Ananyan — creator of the popular GTranslate translation service and a school friend from Quant Gymnasium. He introduced me to the WordPress and Joomla ecosystems, and the concept for GSpeech originated with him. That early work led to the first version of our tool, enabling users to listen to text on a webpage, planting the seed for what would later become a full-featured AI platform. By 2023, I established Smarts Club LLC to scale GSpeech into a global AI audio solution, supporting 70+ languages. The Humanity Union’s praise for GSpeech’s role in enhancing their civic engagement platform’s accessibility reflects my mission to bridge digital divides through AI — a vision rooted in my early programming days.
GSpeech originally began as a tool to support visually impaired users. How did that early mission influence the platform’s evolution into a full-featured AI text-to-speech solution?
The focus on accessibility drove the development of high-quality, real-time AI audio, translation into 70+ languages, and seamless website integration via a simple code snippet. This mission led to features like customizable audio players, language and voice selection panels, context-aware playback, audio downloads, and detailed usage statistics — including country, city, device data, and playback analytics over time — all designed to make content more inclusive and engaging. After writing over 100,000 lines of code, I launched the GSpeech Cloud Console in 2023 — a scalable solution that balances inclusivity with advanced functionality, empowering businesses and creators to make their content accessible, multilingual, and interactive across the web.
What were some of the biggest technical challenges you faced during the development of the GSpeech Cloud Console?
One of the biggest challenges in developing the GSpeech Cloud Console was designing a scalable architecture for real-time, secure, high-quality AI audio generation. This required innovative solutions to fetch relevant content from the web, process audio on our servers, and store it in the cloud for fast, reliable delivery. Implementing robust security measures, like encryption and access controls, was critical to protect dynamic, user-generated content.
Another hurdle was enabling real-time translation using advanced neural engines. We had to ensure low-latency, accurate translations while building an intuitive interface that let users select languages and preferred voice profiles for playback, prioritizing user comfort and personalization. Finally, we developed an audio template creator wizard with multiple customizable player views, allowing users to design unique, visually appealing players tailored to their websites. Balancing flexibility, performance, and ease of use across devices was a rewarding challenge.
With real-time translation in 70+ languages and over 230 natural-sounding voices. How do you ensure voice quality and maintain accuracy across such a diverse language set?
To maintain consistent voice quality, we integrate multiple advanced text-to-speech (TTS) models that are continuously optimized and updated. These multilingual engines handle mixed-language content with high accuracy. We’re also rolling out over 100 new voice vibes to give users even more expressive and natural-sounding options. Every month, GSpeech generates over 200 million characters of audio, serving users in more than 70 countries, with our online players being used over 200,000 times monthly — and growing. This scale ensures ongoing feedback and real-world testing, which directly informs our tuning and quality controls.
Can you walk us through how GSpeech leverages AI and machine learning to deliver lifelike voice synthesis? How do you keep up with the rapid advancements in neural voice technology?
GSpeech uses advanced AI and machine learning, integrating multiple state-of-the-art text-to-speech models to produce lifelike voice synthesis. These models, optimized for naturalness and multilingual support, process text inputs to generate high-quality audio with realistic intonation and rhythm, even for mixed-language content. We enhance user experience by offering customizable voice styles for diverse languages. We’ve also integrated TTS aliases, which allow users to define custom rules for how certain words or phrases are rendered in audio — for example, replacing specific terms to achieve more accurate pronunciation or phrasing. To stay current with neural voice technology, we continuously evaluate and integrate the latest advancements, collaborate with industry leaders, and plan to develop proprietary models in the future, ensuring GSpeech remains at the forefront of voice synthesis innovation.
How important is voice tuning, pitch control, and playback customization to your users—and what’s the use case you’re most proud of where these features really shine?
Voice tuning, pitch control, and playback customization are critical for our users, enabling them to create unique, high-quality voice styles tailored to their specific needs, from news and blog websites to accessible e-learning content. The ongoing integration of over 100 new voice vibes further enhances this, offering users unparalleled flexibility to craft truly distinctive voiceovers. I’m most proud of GSpeech Studio, a new audio editing and generation platform I’m developing. It allows users to create multiple audio channels, mix them with background music, and export polished voiceovers, empowering creators to produce professional-grade audio for diverse applications. A visually impaired student’s letter, thanking GSpeech for enabling independent study through customized audio, touched me deeply. This use case shows how these features make content accessible and transformative, a goal I’ve pursued since my early programming days.
GSpeech offers seamless integrations with WordPress, Shopify, Wix, and more. What’s been your strategy to make the platform plug-and-play for creators and businesses across different ecosystems?
Our strategy for GSpeech’s plug-and-play integrations with platforms like WordPress, Shopify, and Wix focused on simplicity, compatibility, and scalability. We developed lightweight, modular plugins and code snippets that integrate seamlessly, requiring minimal setup—often just a few clicks. This means that thousands of articles and dynamic content blocks can instantly gain voice support — without manual effort. We offer highly flexible, beautifully designed players that adapt across devices, including mobile, tablets, and desktops. Our players are not only customizable but also optimized for accessibility and user engagement. For WordPress, we embedded the GSpeech cloud dashboard directly into the admin panel via our plugin, streamlining management for users. Detailed documentation and intuitive dashboards guide non-technical users through installation and customization. Regular testing ensures consistent performance across diverse ecosystems, empowering creators and businesses to add AI-powered text-to-speech effortlessly.
Looking back on the journey from 2012 to today, what’s been the biggest milestone for you personally or professionally in building GSpeech?
The biggest milestone for GSpeech was generating 1 billion characters of high-quality AI audio, showcasing our global impact on accessibility. Equally meaningful has been the feedback we’ve received from organizations like the Humanity Union, who praised GSpeech for enhancing their social responsibility platform, and from blog owners who called it a “game-changer” for user engagement. Over 110 five-star reviews across platforms like WordPress and AppSumo in recent months reflect this growing trust.
GSpeech is now also actively used by the Namangan regional statistics department in Uzbekistan — a government institution with significant traffic and national-level visibility. Seeing a public body adopt our technology so broadly has been a meaningful milestone and a powerful sign of trust in our solution.
As a Christian and someone who serves in the Armenian church, I also try to support other faith-based initiatives whenever possible. I often offer GSpeech free of charge to Christian websites as a way to help spread their message more effectively and make Scripture more accessible through audio. It’s my small contribution to something greater. At the same time, I’m honored to work with dedicated ministries like The Cord — a Messianic congregation and valued GSpeech client — whose mission and content reflect the power of Scripture in action.
These moments — when technology becomes a bridge for faith, understanding, and inclusion — remind me why we built GSpeech in the first place.
What role do you see GSpeech playing in the future of digital media, particularly as audio content and voice interfaces become more dominant?
I envision GSpeech as a leader in making digital media more accessible and engaging by enabling AI-powered voice access to the web. Our goal is to transform the entire online experience, so that websites become naturally voice-interactive, inclusive, and multilingual by default. With just one line of code, site owners can turn thousands of articles into voiced content. Looking ahead, we’re developing GSpeech Studio into a powerful and unique platform for audio generation and editing, enabling users to create multi-layered voice content with background music, effects, and precise tuning. We want to make the web truly audible, intuitive, and universally accessible.
GSpeech recently launched on AppSumo and has already earned a near-perfect rating from early adopters. What has the response from the AppSumo community meant to you, and how do you plan to build on this momentum moving forward?
The AppSumo launch introduced GSpeech to millions, and its near-perfect rating is incredibly affirming. Users, like those running online courses, praise our intuitive tools and responsive support, echoing feedback from the Humanity Union. A blog owner called our voices “genuinely engaging” and translations “impressive.” Their positive feedback confirms the value of our AI-powered text-to-speech solution and fuels my passion for the project. Supporting clients during the launch also sparked new ideas, particularly for GSpeech Studio, which was inspired by user requests for advanced audio editing and export features. Moving forward, I plan to build on this momentum by actively listening to our community, integrating their feedback, and developing innovative features to enhance accessibility and engagement, ensuring GSpeech continues to evolve as a transformative tool for creators and businesses.
Lastly, what advice would you give to young developers or entrepreneurs who want to build accessible, AI-powered tools in today’s fast-moving tech landscape?
To young developers and entrepreneurs, my advice is to pour your heart into your work and identify a real problem where you can offer a unique, smart solution. Start small, take steady steps forward, and listen closely to customer feedback—they’ll guide your path. Treat your users like trusted friends, give your all, and stay patient. Embrace AI technologies as powerful allies; when used wisely, they amplify your ability to create impactful, accessible tools. Build with passion, persistence, and a commitment to making a difference, and you’ll create solutions that truly matter.
Thank you for the great interview, we chose the GSpeech solution for our website due to the easy integration. To learn more visit GSpeech.
