Chatting with ChatGPT seems more natural when you can speak your request and then listen to the response just like a real conversation. And that ability is now accessible to all users of OpenAI’s popular chatbot. In a Tuesday post on X (formerly Twitter), OpenAI announced that ChatGPT with voice is now available to all free users through the mobile app.
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Voice chat has been around for ChatGPT Plus and Enterprise subscribers for a couple of months, but now all users can engage with the chatbot without having to type their requests. The option is available only in the app, not at the ChatGPT website.
To give the voice chatting a whirl, download the ChatGPT app for iOS/iPadOS or Android if you don’t already have it. Fire up the app and tap the headphone icon. The first time you do this, you’ll be asked to choose a voice. You can opt for Jennifer, Ember, Cove, Sky, or Breeze. Tap each voice to hear how it sounds and then confirm your choice.
Next, speak your question or request. In return, ChatGPT speaks its response. You can then continue chatting this way to carry on the conversation. Tap the X to end the voice chat, and the responses appear in text on the chat screen.
The launch of voice chatting for free users comes in the midst of tumultuous times for ChatGPT developer OpenAI.
Last week, the company created a stir when it revealed that its board of directors had fired CEO and co-founder Sam Altman for reasons that are still somewhat vague. Over the weekend, news hit that Altman and fellow co-founder Greg Brockman had been scooped up by Microsoft to lead a new team in advanced AI research.
But the ouster of Altman didn’t sit well with OpenAI employees.
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In an open letter to the board, more than 500 of the company’s 778 employees threatened to resign if the two co-founders were not reinstated. That letter must have had an impact because on Tuesday, OpenAI announced that Altman would be back as CEO with all board members except one being replaced.
At least OpenAI has a sense of humor about this latest turn of events. The post on X about the voice chat expansion offered a tongue-in-cheek example of how it would work. In an audio clip, someone asks ChatGPT: “It’s been a long night for the team, and we’re hungry. How many 16-inch pizzas should I order for 778 people?” Yes, that’s the number of OpenAI employees.
And ChatGPT’s response? “Assuming an average of three slices per person, and each 16-inch pizza providing around 12 slices, you’d need to order around 195 pizzas.” ChatGPT also asked if the person wanted to know where to order from. No word yet on if any nearby pizza places actually scored an order that big.
