On Tuesday, OpenAI rolled out the Advanced Voice Mode feature to all paid ChatGPT users. The feature was first unveiled at the OpenAI Spring Updates event in May and was touted as a human-like voice chat experience where artificial intelligence (AI) can express emotions, modulate the voice and react to what the user is saying. In July, the real-time reply feature was rolled out to select paying users, but is now available to all ChatGPT Plus and Teams users, except in Europe.
OpenAI released an advanced voice mode in ChatGPT
In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), the official OpenAI lead announced the new feature and shared details about it. The feature is being integrated into the ChatGPT app on Android and iOS, but won’t be available on the web. The AI company said users will be notified when the feature is available to users.
Advanced Voice is rolling out to all Plus and Team users in the ChatGPT app during the week.
While you’ve been patiently waiting, we’ve added custom instructions, memory, five new voices, and improved accents.
It can also say “Sorry I’m late” in over 50 languages. pic.twitter.com/APOqqhXtDg
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) September 24, 2024
ChatGPT users will find an option to turn on advanced voice mode by tapping the waveform icon next to the text field. Tapping the icon activates the new voice mode. Users can now choose from five new voices — Vale, Spruce, Arbor, Maple and Sol. Each of these voices has a different pitch, tonality and regional accent.
Additionally, the advanced voice mode also offers a custom instructions feature. In doing so, users can add information about themselves that they want the AI to remember. Once information is added to the text field, ChatGPT will remember it and all its responses will be contextualized.
In fact, OpenAI was the first AI company to announce this feature, however, Google managed to introduce a similar feature called Gemini Live, before the ChatGPT maker. Although the reason for this is unknown, the company now says that this extra time was needed to improve “conversation speed, smoothness and accents in selected foreign languages”.
While the feature is available in multiple regions around the world, the company has confirmed that it will not be rolling out in the EU, UK, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. This is likely due to regulatory concerns about privacy and data collection.
