OpenAI releases new voice models for more natural live conversations

OpenAI is moving in the same direction, aiming to let users talk to its assistant hands-free for a longer time. Despite its claim that the new voice mode sounds more natural, the company emphasized that it’s not aiming to make this an AI companion. It noted that the new models have safeguards built in to give age-appropriate responses to teens and provide resources if the conversation turns to topics like self-harm.

The new voice mode still needs work. During the demo, when the company showed its live translation feature in Hindi, the assistant had a heavy American accent and spoke in Hindi that was unnatural sounding and had slightly bookish tone. The company said the new mode is optimized for “most spoken languages” but didn’t specify which ones.