ChatGPT maker, OpenAI said on Monday it would release a new AI model called GPT-4o, capable of realistic voice conversation and able to interact across text and image, its latest move to stay ahead in a race to dominate the emerging technology.
New audio capabilities enable users to speak to ChatGPT and
obtain real-time responses with no delay, as well as interrupt ChatGPT while it
is speaking, both hallmarks of realistic conversations that AI voice assistants
have found challenging, the OpenAI researchers showed at a livestream event.
"It feels like AI from the movies ... Talking to a
computer has never felt really natural for me; now it does," OpenAI CEO
Sam Altman wrote in a blog post.
Microsoft-backed OpenAI faces growing competition and
pressure to expand the user base of ChatGPT, its popular chatbot product that
wowed the world with its ability to produce human-like written content and
top-notch software code.
At the livestream event, OpenAI researchers showed off
ChatGPT's new voice assistant capabilities. In one demo, ChatGPT used its
vision and voice capabilities to talk a researcher through solving a math
equation on a sheet of paper.
In another demo, researchers showed the GPT-4o model's
capability of real-time language translation.
OpenAI's demonstrations verged on science-fiction, with
ChatGPT and its interlocutor at one point engaging in coquettish banter. The
OpenAI researcher told the chatbot he was in a great mood because he was
demonstrating "how useful and amazing you are."
ChatGPT responded: "Oh stop it! You're making me
blush!"
Altman posted on X after the demo, "her," in what
appeared to be a reference to the so named 2013 film by Spike Jonze about a man
falling in love with his AI assistant, voiced by Scarlett Johansson.
OpenAI's chief technology officer, Mira Murati, said at the
event that the new model would be offered for free because it is more
cost-effective than the company's previous models. Paid users of GPT-4o will
have greater capacity limits than the company's free users, she said. The
GPT-4o model will be available in ChatGPT over the next few weeks, the company
said.
In addition, free ChatGPT users now have access to a
"browse" feature that enables ChatGPT to display up-to-date
information from the web, Murati told Reuters after the event. The company does
not intend to make money off free users through selling ads, Murati said.
Shortly after launching in late 2022, ChatGPT was called the
fastest application ever to reach 100 million monthly active users. However,
worldwide traffic to ChatGPT's website has been on a roller-coaster ride in the
past year and is only now returning to its May 2023 peak, according to
analytics firm Similarweb.
OpenAI made the announcements a day before Alphabet is
scheduled to hold its annual Google developers' conference, where it is
expected to show off its own new AI-related features. Reuters reported last
week that OpenAI planned to announce an AI-powered search product, citing
sources. But the company decided to delay the search product announcement,
according to one source familiar with the matter.
Shares of Alphabet were down 0.4% on Monday afternoon, after
falling nearly 3% earlier in the day. Microsoft shares were down 0.2%.