Sep 25, 2024 - Technology

Meta, OpenAI expand chatbot voice offerings

Scott Rosenberg

Illustration of two pixelated speech bubbles containing binary code clashing against each other. — Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios

Meta's AI chatbot will start speaking this week, and its new voice capabilities will come in a variety of celebrity flavors.

Why it matters: AI providers are racing to expand their bots' capabilities from text- and image-making into the realm of voice as their battle to answer the world's questions continues.

Driving the news: The changes are expected to be unveiled as part of a wave of announcements from the company this week at its annual Facebook Connect developers' conference.

Five celebrities — Judi Dench, Kristen Bell, John Cena, Awkwafina and Keegan-Michael Key — will lend their voices to Meta's AI.
The news was first reported by Reuters and confirmed by Axios.

Meanwhile, OpenAI announced Tuesday that it was making its Advanced Voice Mode (AVM) available to a wider group of ChatGPT customers.

The voice feature — unveiled earlier this year in a controversial demo that led to a dispute with Scarlett Johansson — allows ChatGPT to speak more naturally, navigate interruptions and even joke with users.
All ChatGPT Plus and Team users will gain access to AVM, and it will roll out to Enterprise and Edu tiers starting next week.
OpenAI is also adding five new voices to the four currently available.

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Meta, OpenAI expand chatbot voice offerings

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