OpenAI has been waiting a long time for itself. Updated Voice Assistant for ChatGPTand the early demos are downright impressive.
The release comes after a delay from an initial planned launch in June, as OpenAI took time to address security concerns and make improvements.
And it looks like the wait was worth it…
The new voice assistant is faster, more realistic and more capable than the current voice capabilities in ChatGPT.
In fact, it's so good that it has some big implications for marketers and business leaders.
I found out why this new feature is so important from Paul Rutzer, founder and CEO of the Marketing AI Institute, on episode 108 of The Artificial Intelligence Show.
It's good (really, really good)
Rutzer says the initial demo of this new voice assistant was impressive when OpenAI previewed it in May. Now, they're able to focus on demos rather than the real thing, he says.
“I've seen people post videos that I would say are somewhat surprised at how good this thing is,” says Reutzer.
“It is able to change its tone, inflection, pitch, integrate sound effects into its voice, convey emotion, and continue when interrupted. It is something extraordinary, as it is human-like.” “
Is it GPT-5 in disguise?
Actually, it is So Good thing Rutzer wonders if there's more going on here than just a new feature for GPT-4o.
“The more I see these examples, the harder it is for me to believe in the current model. [GPT-4o] What we're all using at ChatGPT is actually powering this thing,” he says. “It looks like it has a lot more potential than we've talked about before.”
In the past six months, he notes, OpenAI has explored — or been rumored to be working on — various advanced capabilities beyond voice. These include:
- Video generation with Sora
- Improved image generation
- Improvement of vision abilities
- Better Reasoning and Problem Solving (Leak “Project Strawberry”)
- Search capabilities.
“The more I think about it, the more I think we're already seeing it. [parts of GPT-5]” suggests Roetzer.
Rutzer speculates that these individual pieces, when combined, could form the basis of the next model.
The race for AI supremacy
This development puts OpenAI in a league of its own alongside Google in pursuit of more advanced AI.
Roetzer notes that other players like Anthropic, despite their strengths, don't seem to perform at the same level when it comes to multimodal capabilities like voice.
“Google and OpenAI are in their own circles right now,” Rutzer observed.
The advanced capabilities of OpenAI's voice assistant also raise questions about the future of existing voice assistants like Apple's Siri.
“If you fast-forward to a month or two from now and we can all have access to this OpenAI voice capability, why would I open up Siri again?” Reutzer wondered.
However, it is speculated that Apple could differentiate itself by positioning Siri as an on-device AI agent that prioritizes privacy and deeper integration with Apple's ecosystem.
This could create a gap between OpenAI's more advanced, general-purpose voice assistant and Apple's Siri as a trusted, privacy-focused assistant with your device and apps.
The Future of Human AI Interaction
As these voice technologies become more widely available, we may be entering a new era of human-computer interaction.
“Sound really becomes an interface and it's going to be wild,” Rutzer predicts.
This shift could have profound implications for how we interact with technology in our daily lives and business settings. It could also raise new ethical concerns as these AI assistants become more human-like in their interactions.
“I get the same feeling in my stomach when I do to someone. [interrupts] Another human,” Rotzer admitted, describing his reaction to seeing people interact rudely with AI voice assistants.
“That's going to be a problem. It's very strange how you start assigning human-like characteristics to these things, even though we know they're not there.”