OpenAI simply launched a option to call ChatGPT over the phone as a way of introducing folks to the generative AI service. Customers within the U.S. and Canada can name 1-800-CHATGPT (1-800-242-8478) to talk with the service or ask questions for as much as quarter-hour without spending a dime per thirty days. The discharge is a part of OpenAI’s 12-day-release occasion that it’s playfully calling “shipmas.” (Probably the most thrilling announcement got here on day three, when it rolled out its extremely anticipated AI video-generation tool called Sora.)
It’s a intelligent advertising push for the tech firm, which launched most people to generative AI with a bang in 2022 and has needed to struggle off stiff competitors from rivals reminiscent of Anthropic and Google.
As somebody who commonly asks ChatGPT for help with issues like placing collectively themed grocery lists and evaluating elements in multivitamin manufacturers, I figured I’d strive placing the audio model to the take a look at.
To begin, I needed to understand how the entire thing labored. “You ask questions or inform me what you need assistance with and I’ll do my finest to help you. What’s in your thoughts right now?” the robotic girl’s voice says on the opposite finish of the road. The system stated it needs “to return throughout as clear, pleasant, and useful” when it speaks.
Since this can be a system to introduce folks to AI, I needed ChatGPT to clarify how AI works.
“AI voice recognition works by changing spoken language into textual content,” ChatGPT explains. “It breaks down the audio into tiny fragments, analyzes them for patterns, and matches these patterns to phonemes, the fundamental models of sound in a language. Then it assembles them into phrases and sentences. Superior fashions like GPT-4 can perceive context and nuances making the popularity extra correct.”
Truthful sufficient. However nonetheless, that’s loads of phrases. So I needed to distill the definition into one thing simpler. I requested how it might clarify it to a kindergartner.
It shortly dove right into a sing-song tone. “All proper, think about your voice is sort of a particular music. AI listens to your music, figures out the phrases, and writes them down. It does this by breaking the music into little items, understanding the sounds, after which placing the phrases collectively like a puzzle. So it’s like having a pal who can perceive and write down your favourite songs.”
Kids in all probability aren’t calling OpenAI, although. So possibly it ought to clarify the service to somebody who’s older. I requested how it might clarify what it does to a 100-year-old. At that immediate, the robotic voice switched again to its traditional monotone.
“I’d say, think about a tool that listens to you communicate, then converts your phrases into textual content. It’s a bit like a typist, however as an alternative of utilizing a typewriter, it makes use of superior know-how to know and write down what you’re saying. This know-how has discovered from a lot of conversations so it understands other ways folks communicate.”
I received sufficient at that time, so I switched techniques to get into the vacation cheer. I requested for assist selecting a vacation present for my mother and ChatGPT inspired me to place some thought into it. “Nicely,” it stated, “take into consideration what she enjoys.”
We went backwards and forwards a bit on concepts, and I had my last, urgent vacation query: Is Santa Claus actual?
Reader, I’m right here to say that ChatGPT will softly break it to a curious youngster that the jolly man who flies internationally giving presents doesn’t really exist.
“Santa Claus is a legendary determine who embodies the spirit of giving and pleasure throughout the Christmas season,” ChatGPT says. “Whereas the tales about him are fictional, he represents the magic and generosity of the vacation. Did you’ve gotten any specific questions on Santa?”
So . . . Santa just isn’t actual?
“Santa is a legendary character which means he’s not an actual individual you may meet,” ChatGPT stated, “however he’s very actual within the sense of custom, creativeness, and the enjoyment he brings to many individuals world wide.”
Immediate, measured, and correct—if not precisely festive.