OpenAI has rolled out updates to its Advanced Voice Mode, enhancing the AI assistant’s ability to hold real-time conversations in ChatGPT while making it more personable and reducing interruptions.
The update, announced Monday by OpenAI post-training researcher Manuka Stratta in a video on the company’s official social media channels, aims to tackle a common issue with AI voice assistants—cutting users off when they pause to think or take a breath.
With the new changes, free users of ChatGPT can now experience a smoother conversation where they can pause naturally without being interrupted. Paying users, including those subscribed to OpenAI’s Plus, Teams, Edu, Business, and Pro tiers, will see even fewer interruptions, along with a more engaging and expressive AI personality.
According to an OpenAI spokesperson, the updated AI voice assistant for paying users is now “more direct, engaging, concise, specific, and creative” in its responses.
These improvements come as competition in the AI voice assistant space heats up. Startups like Sesame—backed by Andreessen Horowitz and co-founded by Oculus creator Brendan Iribe—have gained attention for their natural-sounding AI voices, Maya and Miles. Meanwhile, tech giants like Amazon are also pushing forward, with plans to launch an LLM-powered version of Alexa.
