On Monday, OpenAI rolled out updates to ChatGPT's voice assistant, positioning itself as a serious contender against rivals like Amazon.com, Inc.'s Alexa and AI startup Sesame.
What Happened: OpenAI's Advanced Voice Mode for ChatGPT is designed to make the AI assistant more personable, responsive, and less likely to interrupt users mid-sentence.
Manuka Stratta, a post-training researcher at OpenAI, explained the changes in a video posted on YouTube.
"Because it interrupts you less, you'll be able to have more time to gather your thoughts and not feel like you have to fill in all the gaps and silences all the time," she stated.
The update improves the assistant's ability to handle real-time voice interactions, addressing a common user complaint that voice AI models often jump in too soon when users pause.
Free users will now be able to pause mid-conversation without being interrupted while paying subscribers - including those on the Plus, Teams, Edu, Business, and Pro plans - will receive a more advanced version.
Why It's Important: The update comes amid growing competition in the AI voice assistant space.
OpenAI faces pressure from new entrants like Sesame - an Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup that went viral for its natural-sounding AI voices, Maya and Miles - and Amazon, which is preparing a large language model-powered upgrade to Alexa, noted TechCrunch.
Meanwhile, SoftBank Group is reportedly negotiating to spearhead a fresh investment round for OpenAI, which could bring in $40 billion. If finalized, this funding would value the ChatGPT maker at $300 billion, marking a record-setting deal for a privately held company.
