Now you can ring up ChatGPT, too
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OpenAI on Wednesday introduced a new way to talk to ChatGPT by dialing 1-800-CHATGPT or messaging the viral chatbot on WhatsApp.
Why it matters: The feature is another step toward the company's wide-scale AI adoption goals and user accessibility as it competes with Amazon-backed Anthropic, Google and Meta.
Zoom in: Phone calls to ChatGPT are available for anyone in the U.S. with a U.S. phone number, and include 15 minutes of free calling.
- Users can call 1-800-CHATGPT and talk to ChatGPT via its Advanced Voice Mode, OpenAI's real-time conversational feature.
- Users who make calls don't need an OpenAI account.
The chatbot will respond to questions that users ask and can handle tasks such as translating a language, explaining a topic and asking for directions.
- Messaging ChatGPT on WhatsApp is available to everyone globally.
- To connect with ChatGPT on WhatsApp, you have to add 1-800-242-8478 to your contacts and message the bot directly in the app.
What they're saying: OpenAI's chief product officer Kevin Weil said during a livestream that the company's mission is making AGI "beneficial to all of humanity, and part of that is making it as accessible as possible to as many people as we can."
Flashback: Some tech companies operated phone services that you could call or text to do Web searches in the early days of the internet.
- A pioneer in this area was TellMe, later acquired by Microsoft, which continued to offer search by phone until 2012. Google had a similar service it discontinued in 2010.
Go deeper: What OpenAI knows about you
