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New Voice Assistant ChatGPT Is Here To Scare You

Posted on by darion

OpenAI’s long-awaited ChatGPT voice assistant is rolling out to all paying subscribers this week. Like many AI features, its performance is a bit jarring.

OpenAI says Advanced Voice Mode (AVM) began rolling out to users who pay for ChatGPT Plus this week. The company posted a video on Twitter showing the feature in action, helping someone write an apology to their grandma for being late. The user switches gears and asks the voice assistant to apologize in Mandarin, which it did on the fly. The company says AVM can offer apologies in over 50 different languages.

OpenAI first revealed its AVM in May, and it caused quite a bit of controversy because the voice sounded very similar to Scarlett Johansson’s. That prompted the actress to threaten legal action, as she warned the company not to use her voice after CEO Sam Altman approached her last year to be a voice for a film. The voice used in the demo still has a touch of Johansson to it.

AVM officially launched in July, but only a select number of ChatGPT Plus subscribers made it available. Tuesday’s announcement is the start of a broader rollout to Team subscribers and users this week, while Enterprise and Edu users will see the feature roll out next week. You’ll know if you have AVM because a notification will appear in the app.

There are five new voices for AVM: Arbor, Maple, Sol, Spruce, and Vale. That makes a total of nine voices to try out.

In addition to the new voices, the AVM can be programmed in a few ways. In the Settings options, there are Custom Instructions that let you choose how you want the model to speak. This can include speaking clearly and slowly, or addressing you by name. It can even act as an interviewer if you want to practice for an interview. That said, expect some people to customize their AVM in ways you wouldn’t want to think about.

OpenAI also claims that AVM has many improvements in conversation speed, speech fluency, and accents. It can also adjust to the tone of a conversation to sound like another person.

Those wishing to chat via ChatGPT will need to pay for the Plus subscription, which starts at $20 per month.