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OpenAI’s Device Focuses On Audio
Generating conversation // Illustration by Kate Walker
OpenAI is ramping up its audio capabilities as it expects users will primarily interact with upcoming ChatGPT devices through sound.
The Big Picture: Big Tech companies like Meta and Google are working on AI devices that could replace smartphones, and they all seem to have landed on the same idea: that conversing out loud with chatbots is the innovation that will divorce people from their screens. But that shift would require a major cultural change in how people use technology — especially in public spaces.
Behind The Device: OpenAI wants you to talk out loud… just not to yourself.
OpenAI doesn’t believe the LLM powering ChatGPT’s audio experience is as strong as its text-based one, so it’s restructuring teams to make audio the priority.
The goal, according to The Information, is to make responses more accurate and speed up how quickly the chatbot answers questions… all while feeling like a natural conversation partner.
So far, the company has developed a new model that sounds more natural and “emotive” (read: human) and can provide deeper, more accurate answers.
The next step is advancing it so it can better handle interruptions and speak at the same time as a human user — just as we do when talking to another person.
Closing Thoughts: OpenAI plans to release the new audio model sometime early this year… ideally giving people enough time to adjust to talking to ChatGPT before a device rollout in 2027. Right now, most people interact with the chatbot through text-based prompts — but OpenAI didn’t spend $6.5 billion to acquire iPhone designer Jony Ive’s io just so users could keep tapping a touchscreen. Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman want to replace the iPhone.
It may be OpenAI’s most ambitious bet yet.
The Future: OpenAI’s biggest hurdle in getting people to adopt its ChatGPT devices may be convincing them that talking to a chatbot out loud isn’t a faux pas.
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.