Big Tech companies are making significant investments in voice technology, anticipating a shift from typing and clicking to spoken commands as the dominant human-computer interaction. OpenAI's president, Greg Brockman, believes that the current phase of typing and clicking is temporary and that voice will become the interface of the future, bringing computers closer to users. OpenAI has already introduced ChatGPT Voice to its desktop app, allowing white-collar workers to verbally direct AI agents, with a specific focus on software engineers who can now code by speaking.
Several companies are embracing this trend, with some investors even becoming "voice-pilled," believing that speaking allows them to work faster and more productively than typing. Menlo Ventures, an early investor in Anthropic, has equipped its desks with microphones for dictation. Wispr Flow, an AI platform optimized for whispering, is already in use at 450 of the Fortune 500 companies, experiencing 150% revenue growth each quarter for the past year. Wispr is also establishing a new AI lab with 50 researchers to develop advanced voice models.
OpenAI is positioning its voice models as a key differentiator from competitors like Anthropic and Google Gemini. The company is also rumored to be developing consumer hardware with a voice component for in-home use, aiming to compete with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomePod. The success of these ventures will largely depend on the quality and reliability of the voice models, addressing common frustrations with current voice assistants.
