In a recent Webinar, 67% of people thought audio/speech was likely or definitely the future [of media]. Pretty much all charts, including the one below, back up the trend that more and more people are listening to online audio. 

Voices in your ear can feel more “real” and trustworthy than much online content. Also this increased listening is generation agnostic.

All of this should point to a rosy future. However, as I wrote recently, we need to find our place within this rather clever AI audio world. And I want to show you one product that makes this potentially difficult. 

Remember the movie Her in 2013? This was remarkably prescient when we look at OpenAI’s voice chat. It feels like we are not that far off. Perhaps not quite in content but certainly not in tone, intonation, and speech.  

The default voice is Maple, which OpenAI defines as “cheerful and candid.” You can also choose from a total of nine voices such as Juniper which is “open and upbeat,” Sol which is “savvy and relaxed,” Spruce which is “calm and affirming,” Arbor which is “easygoing and versatile” (and great for anyone who likes a British accent), or one of the four others. These are so good that I honestly find it more intuitive to say who than which. 

Here are the key points:

• Interactive voice is here and it’s impressive.

• It’s conversational, which means you can interrupt and react to what is being said.

• You can ask to change emotion.

• You can ask to whisper.

• You can ask it to speak in and interact with it in multiple languages.

• Overall it’s very slick, and I am yet to hear a mistake.

The only way to fully understand this is to spend time trying it out. I’ve tried to show a selection of the above in action in a video, which you can access by clicking here.

From a consumer experience, it’s incredible. I genuinely find it hard to fault; it’s like talking to a friend who can give you an infinite amount of data in a smooth speech format.

But where does news fit in? Or any owned content come to that?  

While I have used OpenAI’s product as I understand it to be the most advanced, it isn’t the only one out there. Look at the search results when I “Google OpenAI voice chat” …

I believe the future is audio, and we need to figure out our place within this environment.  

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