OpenAI revealed that it is expanding the Advanced Voice Mode (AVM) rollout to a broader group of paying ChatGPT customers. The new voice feature, designed to make conversations with ChatGPT feel more natural, will initially be available to users in ChatGPT’s Plus and Teams tiers. Enterprise and Edu customers will begin gaining access next week.
As part of the rollout, the feature is receiving a design overhaul. Instead of the black animated dots, AVM is now represented by a blue animated sphere. When AVM becomes available, users will see a pop-up notification next to the voice icon in the ChatGPT app.
ChatGPT is adding five new voices for users to experiment with Arbor, Maple, Sol, Spruce, and Vale. With these additions, the total number of voices available now reaches nine, which is nearly as many as Google’s Gemini Live. The new voices join the existing ones: Breeze, Juniper, Cove, and Ember. You may notice that all these names are inspired by nature, reflecting the goal of AVM to create a more natural experience when using ChatGPT.
One voice notably absent from this lineup is Sky, which OpenAI featured during its spring update. This voice prompted a legal concern from Scarlett Johansson, an actress. Johansson argued that Sky’s voice bore a striking resemblance to her own. In response, OpenAI swiftly removed Sky’s voice, clarifying that there was never an intention to mimic Johansson’s voice, even though several staff members had made references to the film in their tweets at the time.
Another absent feature from this rollout is ChatGPT’s video and screen sharing, which OpenAI first introduced during its spring update four months ago. This capability is intended to enable GPT-4o to process both visual and audible information simultaneously. During the demonstration, an OpenAI staff member illustrated how users could pose real-time questions to ChatGPT regarding math problems on paper or code displayed on their computer screens. As of now, OpenAI has not provided a timeline for the release of these multimodal features.
That being said, OpenAI claims to have made several enhancements since the launch of its limited alpha test of AVM. The voice feature in ChatGPT is reportedly better at recognizing accents, and the company asserts that conversations are now smoother and faster. OpenAI is also enhancing some of ChatGPT’s customization features for AVM, including Custom Instructions, which enables users to tailor ChatGPT’s responses, and Memory, which allows the model to remember past conversations for future reference.
According to an OpenAI spokesperson, AVM is currently unavailable in several regions, such as the EU, the U.K., Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein.
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