15 (software engineer)

American software engineer (born 1998/1999) 15 (software engineer) (3rd nomination) 2026 October 15 yes afdx off merging 15.ai yes October 2026 October 2026 15 15 at Everfree Northwest 2025.png A cartoon pony with a pale lilac coat, light blue mane, glasses, and a dark hoodie sits behind a laptop beside a microphone. 15 at Everfree Northwest in 2025 Software engineer, computer scientist 15.ai Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS, MS) 20 2019 fifteenai tenfive15_ 15 is an American software engineer, computer scientist, and mathematician. He is best known for creating 15.ai, a text-to-speech website credited with popularizing AI voice cloning. 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 corroborated by OpenAI in 2024. 15 graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he began developing the technology behind 15.ai as a freshman. The site launched in 2020 and went viral the following year, becoming one of the first mainstream applications of generative AI. In 2022, he exposed the NFT company Voiceverse for plagiarizing 15.ai to promote its partnership with voice actor Troy Baker. Media outlets and AI researchers praised his work on 15.ai, highlighting 15.ai's non-commercial and indie status in a highly technical field normally dominated by corporations. Well known within the brony community, 15 is identified with his ponysona, a light blue pony original character, and has supported and founded various fandom-related projects. Education and career 15 attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),Kurosawa Yuki 2021 ゲームキャラ音声読み上げソフト「15.ai」公開中。『Undertale』や『Portal』のキャラに好きなセリフを言ってもらえる Game Character Voice Reading Software "15.ai" Now Available. Get Characters from Undertale and Portal to Say Your Desired Lines https://automaton-media.com/articles/newsjp/20210119-149494/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20210119103031/https://automaton-media.com/articles/newsjp/20210119-149494/ January 19, 2021 December 18, 2024 AUTOMATON jaLamorlette Robin January 25, 2021 Insolite : un site permet de faire dire ce que vous souhaitez à GlaDOS (et à d'autres personnages de jeux vidéo) https://www.clubic.com/technologies-d-avenir/intelligence-artificielle/actualite-349691-insolite-un-site-permet-de-faire-dire-ce-que-vous-souhaitez-a-glados-et-a-d-autres-personnages-de-jeux-video-.html March 23, 2025 Clubic fr live https://web.archive.org/web/20250119094341/https://www.clubic.com/technologies-d-avenir/intelligence-artificielle/actualite-349691-insolite-un-site-permet-de-faire-dire-ce-que-vous-souhaitez-a-glados-et-a-d-autres-personnages-de-jeux-video-.html January 19, 2025 Unusual: A Site Lets You Make GLaDOS (and Other Video Game Characters) Say Whatever You Want where he received degrees in physics, computer science, and mathematics. His thesis was on quantum pseudo-telepathy in nonlocal game theory.July 5, 2026 https://15.dev/about About me 15.dev In 2019, he co-founded an analytics startup that was accepted into Y Combinator, after which he moved to Silicon Valley rather than pursue a planned PhD. He later left the company, and was subsequently employed as chief technology officer at other YC companies. 15.ai 15.ai thumb|200px|15's ponysona, a light-blue pony original character, has been used as the mascot of the 15.ai website.|alt=A pale lilac cartoon pony with a light blue mane and tail, glasses, and a dark hoodie 15 began researching speech synthesis during his first year at MIT, having been inspired by Google DeepMind's WaveNet paper. His undergraduate research focused on minimizing the amount of recorded speech needed to reproduce a voice. His pseudonym refers to his claim that 15 seconds of speech is sufficient to produce a voice clone of human-like quality; the same idea gave the project its name, 15.ai. This assertion was later corroborated by OpenAI in 2024.Temitope Yusuf December 10, 2024 15.ai Creator reveals journey from MIT Project to internet phenomenon https://guardian.ng/technology/15-ai-creator-reveals-journey-from-mit-project-to-internet-phenomenon/ Lagos, Nigeria December 25, 2024 The Guardian https://web.archive.org/web/20241228152312/https://guardian.ng/technology/15-ai-creator-reveals-journey-from-mit-project-to-internet-phenomenon/ December 28, 2024 live In March 2020, 15 released 15.ai as a free, non-commercial web application that allowed users to generate speech in the voices of fictional characters. One of the first mainstream applications of generative AICzornik Katarzyna AI and GenAI as Tools in the Hands of Islamic Terrorist Organisations Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies December 3, 2025 24 72 37 https://thenewjsri.ro/index.php/njsri/article/view/887 and the first of audio deepfake technology,Bolocan Emil Savciuc Oxana Evolution of Integrated Marketing Communication from Telecommunications Models to AI Frenzy International Scientific Conference "Development Through Research and Innovation" (IDSC-2025) Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova Chișinău, Moldova May 16, 2025 242 10.53486/dri2025.30 https://ibn.idsi.md/sites/default/files/imag_file/240-248_4.pdf September 2, 2026 978-9975-168-26-7 free 15.ai became an international viral phenomenon in 2021 and popularized voice cloning in memes and content creation.Clayton Natalie January 19, 2021 Make the cast of TF2 recite old memes with this AI text-to-speech tool https://www.pcgamer.com/make-the-cast-of-tf2-recite-old-memes-with-this-ai-text-to-speech-tool live https://web.archive.org/web/20210119133726/https://www.pcgamer.com/make-the-cast-of-tf2-recite-old-memes-with-this-ai-text-to-speech-tool/ January 19, 2021 December 18, 2024 PC GamerMorton Lauren January 18, 2021 Put words in game characters' mouths with this fascinating text to speech tool https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2021/01/18/put-words-in-game-characters-mouths-with-this-fascinating-text-to-speech-tool/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20210118213308/https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2021/01/18/put-words-in-game-characters-mouths-with-this-fascinating-text-to-speech-tool/ January 18, 2021 December 18, 2024 Rock, Paper, ShotgunRuppert Liana January 18, 2021 Make Portal's GLaDOS And Other Beloved Characters Say The Weirdest Things with This App https://www.gameinformer.com/gamer-culture/2021/01/18/make-portals-glados-and-other-beloved-characters-say-the-weirdest-things https://web.archive.org/web/20210118175543/https://www.gameinformer.com/gamer-culture/2021/01/18/make-portals-glados-and-other-beloved-characters-say-the-weirdest-things January 18, 2021 December 18, 2024 Game Informer liveZwiezen Zack January 18, 2021 Website Lets You Make GLaDOS Say Whatever You Want https://kotaku.com/this-website-lets-you-make-glados-say-whatever-you-want-1846062835 live https://web.archive.org/web/20210117164748/https://kotaku.com/this-website-lets-you-make-glados-say-whatever-you-want-1846062835 January 17, 2021 December 18, 2024 Kotaku Reception to the project and its developer were generally positive, with many reviews particularly praising 15.ai's ease of use despite its technical sophisticationVillalobos José January 18, 2021 Descubre 15.AI, un sitio web en el que podrás hacer que GlaDOS diga lo que quieras Discover 15.AI, a Website Where You Can Make GlaDOS Say What You Want https://www.laps4.com/noticias/descubre-15-ai-un-sitio-web-en-el-que-podras-hacer-que-glados-diga-lo-que-quieras/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20210118172043/https://www.laps4.com/noticias/descubre-15-ai-un-sitio-web-en-el-que-podras-hacer-que-glados-diga-lo-que-quieras/ January 18, 2021 January 18, 2021 LaPS4 es and the impressiveness of an indie project outperforming contemporary models created by large tech companies.Chandraseta Rionaldi January 21, 2021 Generate Your Favourite Characters' Voice Lines using Machine Learning https://towardsdatascience.com/generate-your-favourite-characters-voice-lines-using-machine-learning-c0939270c0c6 live December 18, 2024 Towards Data Science January 21, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210121132456/https://towardsdatascience.com/generate-your-favourite-characters-voice-lines-using-machine-learning-c0939270c0c6Irpan Alex July 21, 2025 Brony Musicians Seize The Means of Production: My Eyewitness Account to BABSCon 2025 https://www.alexirpan.com/2025/07/21/babscon-2025.html October 1, 2025 Alex Irpan https://web.archive.org/web/20250730105629/https://www.alexirpan.com/2025/07/21/babscon-2025.html July 30, 2025 live For his work on 15.ai, Player called 15 a "brilliant engineer",https://player.hu/kult/ezen-a-szajton-azt-adhatsz-egy-rakas-kozismert-karakter-szajaba-amit-csak-akarsz Ezen a szájton azt adhatsz egy rakás közismert karakter szájába, amit csak akarsz Player.hu January 17, 2021 October 4, 2026 hu On this site, you can put whatever you want into the mouths of a bunch of well-known characters. and Independent described him as a "programming prodigy".https://independent.ng/the-mit-project-that-paved-way-for-modern-voice-ai/ The MIT Project That Paved Way For Modern Voice AI Independent January 3, 2025 Shojobi Abisola October 4, 2026 On Marginal Revolution, economist Tyler Cowen mentioned 15 as an "underrated talent in AI".https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2022/05/the-most-underrated-talent-in-ai.html The most underrated talent in AI? Tyler Cowen Marginal Revolution May 12, 2022 September 24, 2025 live https://web.archive.org/web/20220512053053/https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2022/05/the-most-underrated-talent-in-ai.html May 12, 2022 Tyler Cowen 15.ai went offline in September 2022 due to legal complications regarding copyright infringement. In May 2025, 15.ai was revived under the name "15.dev".https://techpoint.africa/guide/best-15-ai-alternatives/ I tested the 6 best 15.ai alternatives for AI voiceovers (2025 review) Techpoint Africa June 30, 2025 November 20, 2025 Fredrick Eghosa Voiceverse NFT plagiarism scandal Voiceverse NFT plagiarism scandal In January 2022, 15 accused Voiceverse, an NFT company that had announced a partnership with voice actor Troy Baker, of using audio generated by 15.ai in its promotional material without attribution. He publicized the allegation on Twitter, and Voiceverse subsequently acknowledged that its marketing team had used 15.ai without giving credit. 15 responded to the company's apology with "Go fuck yourself".Wright Steve January 17, 2022 Troy Baker-backed NFT company admits to using content without permission https://stevivor.com/news/troy-baker-nft-voiceverse-15-ai/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20220117231918/https://stevivor.com/news/troy-baker-nft-voiceverse-15-ai/ January 17, 2022 October 5, 2025 Stevivor The exchange circulated widely online and drew a large amount of support for the developer. News publications reported that Voiceverse had plagiarized from 15, and the incident was documented in multiple AI ethics databases, criticisms of predatory monetization in video games, and retrospectives as one of the earliest instances of plagiarism and theft during the AI boom.January 2022 https://www.aiaaic.org/aiaaic-repository/ai-algorithmic-and-automation-incidents/voiceverse-nft-voice-theft Voiceverse NFT caught plagiarising voice lines from AI service 15.ai live October 5, 2025 AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Incidents and Controversies https://web.archive.org/web/20251004023459/https://www.aiaaic.org/aiaaic-repository/ai-algorithmic-and-automation-incidents/voiceverse-nft-voice-theft October 4, 2025Sonali Pednekar Lam Khoa Incident 277: Voices Created Using Publicly Available App Stolen and Resold as NFT without Attribution https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/277/ AI Incident Database October 5, 2025 January 14, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20250113102849/https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/277/ January 13, 2025 liveBailey Jonathan November 17, 2025 A Retrospective on the Voiceverse Plagiarism Scandal https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2025/11/17/a-retrospective-on-the-voiceverse-plagiarism-scandal/ November 20, 2025 Plagiarism Today November 17, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20251117211633/https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2025/11/17/a-retrospective-on-the-voiceverse-plagiarism-scandal/ live Other projects In May 2026, 15 launched Artist Alley, a fandom online marketplace for physical and digital merchandise and art commissions.fifteenai 2059778112947401168 May 27, 2026 Today, I'm proud and excited to officially announce and launch Artist Alley, the artist-first fandom marketplace! He cited conversations with artists and vendors he met at fan conventions as an impetus for creating the platform.Lagopus Andy July 2, 2026 Introducing ArtistAlley.Org, a Place for All Fan-Artists to Sell Their Work! https://www.zootopianewsnetwork.com/2026/07/introducing-artistalley-org-a-place-for-all-fan-artists-to-sell-their-work.html Zootopia News Network July 3, 2026 That month, he also announced the indefinite closure of 15.devSince its closure, the site 15.dev now leads to 15's personal website. to focus on running Artist Alley.fifteenai 2060098921582772567 I should probably mention this now, by the way: I've decided to close http://15.dev indefinitely so I can focus on Artist Alley. In August 2026, 15 released 3place, a collaborative voxel art browser game inspired by wplace.fifteenai 2083367592698225082 Remember wplace from last year? The website allows users to build with colored blocks on a shared three-dimensional map of Earth.3place https://3place.world/ 3place October 13, 2026 Personal life 15 is a frequent attendee of furry and brony conventions. He is identified with his ponysona, a light-blue pony original character. Within the brony community, 15 is regarded as a celebrity for his work on 15.ai, a status known as being "horse famous" in the vernacular of the brony fandom. Notes References External links Category:Living people Category:American software engineers Category:American computer scientists Category:American artificial intelligence researchers Category:MIT School of Science alumni Category:Furry fandom people Category:Brony fandom people Category:15.ai Category:Year of birth missing (living people)