OpenAI’s highly anticipated Advanced Voice Mode brings even more natural conversations to ChatGPT than the previous voice mode the chatbot supported.
Advanced Voice Mode lets you interrupt the AI as you change and adapt your questions and replies to what ChatGPT has just told you. It’s very similar to the way human-to-human conversations go. Advanced Voice Mode also gets a more human-like tonality, making the AI more lifelike than ever.
OpenAI took several months to release Advanced Voice Mode, so the first ChatGPT users who got it were Plus and Team subscribers worldwide, with a big exception. Like me, users in the European Union can’t get ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode, as OpenAI is more careful about the timeline of new features in the region due to the EU’s tighter regulations.
Fast-forward to late Tuesday and OpenAI announced that Advanced Voice Mode is rolling out to ChatGPT Enterprise, Edu, and Team users globally. More importantly, ChatGPT Free users also get “a sneak peek of Advanced Mode.” Like before, the EU is excluded from the rollout.
OpenAI hosted its DevDey 2024 event on Tuesday. The event focused on making ChatGPT access cheaper for developers and extending AI tools that developers can use for apps. That made DevDay a lot less exciting for regular users than last year’s event, but that’s understandable.
OpenAI wants to increase revenue significantly. A recent report hinted that a price hike might be in order for ChatGPT Plus this year. But that might not be enough to meet the company’s goals. That’s where the ChatGPT APIs can come in handy, as developers can integrate AI tools into their own apps. DevDay 2024 was about that.
Interestingly, one of the features OpenAI announced was a new Realtime API, which will let developers bring AI voice features to their apps, including support for Advanced Voice Mode. Talking to more apps naturally is certainly a feature I want down the road, so Realtime API is something to keep tabs on. But it will take a while until apps start deploying it.
As for Advanced Voice Mode support for ChatGPT Free users, OpenAI announced it on its X account. Some ChatGPT Free users have discovered their updated mobile apps got the new voice mode, sharing screenshots on Reddit.
That’s a great feature to test out, but that’s where the big caveat comes in. With ChatGPT Free, you’re only getting 15 minutes of Advanced Voice Mode per month. For higher limits, you’ll have to go for a Plus subscription, priced at $20/month and supposedly going to $22/month soon.
Making Advanced Voice Mode available to the Free tier is also unsurprising. OpenAI might convert additional users to a paying subscription. But Google has also released Gemini Live widely on Android, which is the equivalent of Advanced Voice Mode.
OpenAI also said it’ll keep ChatGPT Free and Plus users in the EU “updated.” That means Advanced Voice Mode is still not coming to the block.
Anyone else will have to update their apps to get the Advanced Voice Mode functionality immediately.
