OpenAI Delays Voice Mode Rollout to July

OpenAI announced that it is postponing the release of its highly anticipated "Voice Mode" feature to July due to technical issues. Initially scheduled for late June, the realistic voice conversation experience will now be available to a select group of ChatGPT Plus users next month as the company works to meet its launch standards.

The Voice Mode feature will allow users to engage in realistic voice conversations with ChatGPT, providing real-time responses and enabling interruptions—capabilities that have been challenging for AI voice assistants to master. OpenAI plans to gather feedback from the initial small group of users before expanding access to all Plus users in the fall, pending safety and reliability checks.

In addition to Voice Mode, OpenAI is developing new video and screen-sharing functionalities.

In May, the company introduced its latest AI model, GPT-4o, which will support realistic voice conversations and interactions across text and images.

GPT-4o is available to all, including unpaid users.

By integrating real-time, spoken conversations, the model transforms ChatGPT into a digital personal assistant. Notably multimodal functionality, interpreting text, images, and even vision, enabling discussions on screenshots, photos, and documents.

The model's memory capabilities enable it to learn from past interactions and perform real-time translations.

Previously, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman informed some shareholders that the company is considering a shift to a for-profit firm structure, according to a report by The Information. This potential change would mean the firm's nonprofit board would no longer control the company.

Altman’s suggestion came after Elon Musk decided to dismiss the lawsuit against OpenAI and its co-founders, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. Sued in the California state court, the lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice on June 11th, the day after Musk openly denounced OpenAI’s new collaboration with Apple.

This lawsuit was filed in February by Musk against OpenAI, Altman, and Brockman for breach of contract and fiduciary duty. He said that OpenAI, which was created to build AGI to help humanity, has become profit-oriented and is now mostly owned by Microsoft.

On the other hand, OpenAI, in collaboration with Microsoft, announced a new initiative to support non-profit organizations by offering discounts on its corporate ChatGPT subscriptions. This move comes as part of OpenAI's strategy to expand the adoption of its AI products within the enterprise sector.