The latest ChatGPT update is going to make the AI assistant more like Her
ChatGPT gains vision and voice capabilities, but the impressive part is just how natural it sounds. Theodore Twombly would be proud
People are running wild with AI, outsourcing it to do all manner of things on their behalf. Systems like ChatGPT to write emails for you, beyond the basic ask and answer prompts. It can even create images for you now, without having to use a different tool. So what next? OpenAI revealed what the AI assistant is going to look like in the coming weeks, and it’s a big overhaul. If you’ve ever seen the film Her, you’ll have an idea of what to expect.
Revealed at OpenAI’s Spring Update event on 13 May, the new GPT-4o model is here to shake things up. Forget about the finger gymnastics needed to type your questions. Now, you can just yammer away, and ChatGPT 4o listens. Like actually listens. And you can interrupt it. You can already make voice requests in the app, so the impressive part here is the way ChatGPT now responds. It’s been designed to sound more natural, as if you were speaking to a real person. And it does sound a little like Scarlett Johansson.
And if you thought it couldn’t get more Black Mirror, the AI assistant showed a glimpse of getting emotional. When the hosts expressed their love for it, the machine displayed a touch of sentiment. Whether that’s endearing or eerie might be up for debate. It gets weirder, thought. You can tell the chatbot exactly what tone to reply in.
But wait, there’s more. The new Vision feature is where things get more impressive. By harnessing the camera on your phone, ChatGPT 4o can now help you with visual tasks. Stuck on a maths problem? Just show it to your AI assistant, and it’ll help you out and tell you how to get there – much like an actual tutor.
OpenAI claims it turbocharged GPT-4o by training a unified model across text, vision, and audio. This isn’t just about faster replies, although the new model is much faster. This update is about creating a seamless, intuitive interaction across different formats – whether you’re typing, talking, or snapping photos. Plus, all this power is now free for everyone. It’s no longer behind the premium subscription, like GPT-4 was. It’ll be rolling out over the next few weeks to the ChatGPT app, including a new Mac version.
Connor Jewiss
