OpenAI’s GPT-4o ChatGPT assistant is more lifelike than ever, complete with funny jokes
So no, OpenAI did not launch a search engine competitor to take on Google during the May 13, 2024 Spring Update event. Instead, OpenAI unveiled GPT-4 Omni (or GPT-4o for short) with human-like conversation capabilities, and it’s seriously impressive.
In addition to making this version of ChatGPT faster and free for more people, GPT-4o expands the way you can interact with it, including having natural conversations through the mobile or desktop app. Considering it’s coming to iPhone, Android, and desktop apps, it could pave the way for it to become the assistant we’ve all always wanted (or feared).
OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4o is more emotional and human
GPT-4o has taken an important step in understanding human communication by allowing you to talk in a natural way. It comes complete with all the messiness of everyday tendencies, like interrupting, understanding tone, and even realizing when a mistake has been made.
During the first live demo, the presenter asked for feedback on his breathing technique. Breathing heavily into his phone, ChatGPT responded with the funny joke: “You’re not a vacuum cleaner.” It advised on a slower technique, demonstrating the ability to understand and respond to human nuances.
So yes, ChatGPT has a sense of humor, but it also changes the tone of the responses, complete with different inflections while conveying a ‘thought’. Just like with human conversations, you can interrupt and correct the assistant so that it responds or stops talking. You can even ask him to speak in a certain tone, style or robotic voice. Moreover, it can even provide translations.
In a live demonstration suggested by a user on It can quickly provide the translation from Italian to English and then seamlessly translate the English answer back to Italian.
However, it’s not just about voice understanding with GPT-4o; it can also understand images such as a written linear equation and then guide you to solve it, as well as look at a live selfie and provide a description. That could be what you wear, or your emotions.
In this demo, GPT said the presenter looked happy and cheerful. However, it is not without its quirks. At one point, ChatGPT said it saw the equation image before it was even written out, referring to an earlier image of just a wooden table top.
During the demo, ChatGPT worked quickly and didn’t really struggle to understand or ask about the problem. GPT-4o is also more natural than typing a question because you can talk to your phone naturally and get the answer you want – not an answer that tells you to Google it.
Kind of like “Samantha” in “Her”
If you think about it Her or any other futuristic-dystopian movie with an AI, you’re not alone. Talking to ChatGPT in such a natural way is essentially the Her moment for OpenAI. Since it will be rolled out for free to the mobile app and as a desktop app, many people will soon have their own app Her moments.
The impressive voice and image demos may just be the tip of the iceberg of what is possible. Overall performance and how well GPT-4o performs day-to-day in different environments remains to be seen, and once it’s available Ny Breaking will put it through its paces. Still, after this look, it’s clear that GPT-4o is preparing to take on the best that Google and Apple have to offer in their highly anticipated AI reveals.
The prospects for GPT-4o
However, by announcing this the day before Google I/O kicks off and just a few weeks after we’ve seen new AI gadgets hit the scene – like the Rabbit R1 – OpenAI is giving us a taste of the truly useful AI experiences we want. If this rumored partnership with Apple comes to fruition, Siri could get a boost and Google will almost certainly show off its latest AI tricks at I/O on May 14, 2024. But will they be enough?
We wish OpenAI showed some more live demos with the latest ChatGPT-4o in what turned out to be a jam-packed keynote of less than 30 minutes. Luckily, it’s rolling out to users over the next week and you won’t have to pay to try it out.