When Klemen Simonič and Ambrož Bizjak asked their professors questions in the hallway of their faculty in Ljubljana fifteen years ago, to which even the professors had no answers, they probably never imagined that they would one day develop a speech-based artificial intelligence that would surpass Google, Microsoft, and even ChatGPT. And even less likely – that this AI would understand the Slovenian language better than your grandmother from Goriška Brda (the birthplace of Slovenia). Welcome to Soniox – a technological story that even Silicon Valley would envy. From the story of how small Slovenia can surpass the world and the giants.
Imagine a meeting with a team from five countries. One speaks English, another French, a third Japanese, a fourth Portuguese, and you – of course – are loyal to Slovenian. Sounds confusing, right? Not if you have Sonyox.
Soniox listens, transcribes, translates, understands and marks up who is speaking in real time – all simultaneously and without lag. Whether it’s an important business call, a conference, a public event, a live radio broadcast or a doctor’s appointment, Soniox makes sure every voice is heard and every language is understood.
With the mobile app, you can record meetings, capture notes with speaker tags, and export them for later analysis. You can be on vacation in Japan and communicate with a taxi driver without any problems. You can comment live on TikTok and Soniox translates you into 60 languages while you just speak. This is the future happening now – from your pocket.
Soniox is not just an interpreter. He's a cameraman, a recorder, an editor, a proofreader, and your best conversationalist. He's like an assistant who never falls asleep and always understands – even when you're talking with your mouth full or on a bus in traffic. Yes, he can do that too.
From Cerkno to California (via Vegova)
Klemen Simonič, a programming wunderkind from Gorenje Novak, moved from the hills to Ljubljana at the age of 15, where he fell in love with code on Vegova. This was followed by university, a lab at the IJS, Stanford, collaboration with Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton, and an elite position in AI development for Facebook (now Meta).
On the other hand – Ambrož, a perfectionist with a clicker in his hand, programmed the controls for particle accelerators at Cosylab and helped develop proton therapy for cancer treatment.
When Klemen from California called Ambrož in 2020 with the idea of a voice revolution, Ambrož was already on a plane across the Atlantic. And so Soniox was born.
Why is Soniox special?
In one word: speed. In two words: no compromises.
Soniox enables simultaneous translation and transcription of speech in over 60 languages – without lag, without loss of quality, without the need for an “expensive” subscription. You speak in Japanese, they listen to you in Portuguese. Live. With speaker recognition, automatic language detection and incredible accuracy even for “minority” languages like Slovenian.
Their technology is so good that Samsung is already using it in its applications – from wearables to medical transcriptions.
The app that hears everything
The new Soniox mobile app, now available for iOS and Android, is your personal simultaneous interpreter, meeting recorder, and AI assistant in your pocket. With it, you can:
- Speak and see the translation in real time,
- Record a meeting and get a structured transcript with speaker tags,
- Share recorded conversations like a pro – or a spy.
And yes, he understands your Styrian dialect too. Probably better than your boss.
Slovenian garage tech: the future from Ljubljana
Soniox is not just another app. It is proof that we can also develop world-class breakthrough artificial intelligence from Ljubljana. That we are not just exporters of hops and ski hopes, but also innovators of the future. The company's slogan leaves no doubt: “Any language. Any voice. Instantly.” Or in the vernacular – any language, any voice, instantly.
Conclusion: Soniox – is an entry into the world of…
If you thought the future of voice was in the hands of Californian tech giants – think again. The real winners speak with a Slovenian accent. And they respond – in every language in the world. Soniox is worth a try, which is completely free and will completely shock you.
