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- The feature follows in the footsteps of voice assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa
ChatGPT has become even chattier.
Users can now speak out loud to the AI chatbot and it will respond in its own synthesized voice.
The feature is part of an upgrade to the mobile app and follows in the footsteps of voice assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri.
ChatGPT has five different voices – both male and female – trained as actors hired by OpenAI, the US company behind the technology.
The company claims they are much more realistic than competing voice assistants – and is considering letting users create their own voice assistants in the future.
ChatGPT users can now talk out loud to the AI chatbot and it will reply with its own synthesized voice
Spotify has announced that it is testing the technology to translate podcasts into other languages, using an AI-generated imitation of the original host’s voice.
Voice assistants like Alexa and Siri have long allowed people to interact with their devices through their smartphones, tablets and laptops.
But chatbots have much more powerful language skills, with the ability to instantly write emails, poetry, and riffs on any topic.
OpenAI believes that talking is a more natural way to interact with ChatGPT and is introducing the feature to anyone who subscribes to the ‘Plus’ edition, which costs £16 per month.
The feature is part of a mobile app upgrade and follows in the footsteps of voice assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri (Stock Image)
Joanne Jang, product manager at OpenAI, told MIT Technology Review: “When designing the voices, the most important criterion was whether this was a voice you could listen to all day.”
“We are trying to make ChatGPT more useful and helpful,” she added.
As part of the upgrade, OpenAI also announced that ChatGPT can now understand images.
By uploading or taking a photo, ChatGPT responds with a description of it.
In one demo, the company showed the chatbot a photo of a child’s math homework with a Sudoku-like puzzle and asked how to solve it. ChatGPT responded with the correct steps.
ChatGPT’s image recognition capabilities have already been tested by a company called Be My Eyes, which makes an app for people with low vision to help them determine what’s in front of them.