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OpenAI rolls out Advanced Voice Mode with more voices and a new look

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Re: OpenAI rolls out Advanced Voice Mode with more voices and a new look

#2
I have played with it for 20 minutes and here’s my review:

1. The low latency responses do make a difference. It feels miles better than any other voice chat out there.

2. Its pronunciation is excellent and very human like but it is not quite there. Somehow I can tell instantly that it’s a chatbot, it feels firmly in the uncanny valley.

3. On the same note if I was on call and there was a chatbot on the other side of the call I can instantly tell. It’s a mix of the voice with the way it responds, it just does not sounds like a human talking to you. I tried a bit to make it sound more human like, asking it to stop trying so hard in conversation being briefer etc but I wouldn’t say it made things better

And so my final review is, it is a big achievement over anything out there, nothing else comes close but it is like video game console graphics. You can instantly tell it’s not the real thing and because of that I find it harder to use than just typing to it.

Re: OpenAI rolls out Advanced Voice Mode with more voices and a new look

#4

> Advanced Voice is not yet available in the EU, the UK, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein. That's disappointing. I wonder if it's related to legal issues, technical issues, or just doing a phased rollout?

It's definitely legal issues, probably the same reason Apple is not rolling some of the new features like Apple Intelligence in iOS 18 to EU.

[0] https://www.macworld.com/article/2374452/apple-intelligence-...

Re: OpenAI rolls out Advanced Voice Mode with more voices and a new look

#7

> Advanced Voice is not yet available in the EU, the UK, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein. That's disappointing. I wonder if it's related to legal issues, technical issues, or just doing a phased rollout?

When something is not available in EU, you instantly know they're up to no good.

edit: Sorry if privacy hurts your feelings, people who downvote me.

Re: OpenAI rolls out Advanced Voice Mode with more voices and a new look

#8

> Advanced Voice is not yet available in the EU, the UK, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein. That's disappointing. I wonder if it's related to legal issues, technical issues, or just doing a phased rollout?

Sam Altman only said this: https://x.com/sama/status/1838864011321872407

>except for jurisdictions that require additional external review

Re: OpenAI rolls out Advanced Voice Mode with more voices and a new look

#9
post #4

> Advanced Voice is not yet available in the EU, the UK, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein. That's disappointing. I wonder if it's related to legal issues, technical issues, or just doing a phased rollout?

It's definitely legal issues, probably the same reason Apple is not rolling some of the new features like Apple Intelligence in iOS 18 to EU. [0] https://www.macworld.com/article/2374452/apple-intelligence-...

I don't believe this, gpt4o and chatgpt is already available in the EU. Adding advanced voice mode doesn't change anything.

Re: OpenAI rolls out Advanced Voice Mode with more voices and a new look

#10

I have played with it for 20 minutes and here’s my review: 1. The low latency responses do make a difference. It feels miles better than any other voice chat out there. 2. Its pronunciation is excellent and very human like but it is not quite there. Somehow I can tell instantly that it’s a chatbot, it feels firmly in the uncanny valley. 3. On the same note if I was on call and there was a chatbot on the other side of…

>Somehow I can tell instantly that it’s a chatbot [...] because of that I find it harder to use than just typing to it.

That to me is precisely the reason to still use it without hesitation, because once it starts getting very-much-human, I don't know if I want to use it unless I really have to.

I think there's a lot of merit in keeping it sounding just a little artificial so that it is easier to have some psychological distance from what is already an overly anthropomorphic experience.

In religion/religious studies, there is the occasional debate of whether or not deities are/ought to be anthropomorphic, and atheism of course finds the whole notion ridiculous. Considering that our hopes and dreams with AGI can often feel religious -- maybe it's time to take that same lens towards AI.

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