Advanced Voice is rolling out to all Plus and Team users plus 5 new voices

OpenAI has begun rolling out its Advanced Voice Mode (AVM) to a broader set of ChatGPT’s paying customers, starting with those on the Plus and Teams tiers. AVM, designed to make voice interactions with ChatGPT feel more natural, comes with a revamped interface, replacing the old black dots with a blue animated sphere. Users will be notified with a pop-up in the ChatGPT app when the feature is available. Enterprise and educational customers will have access to AVM starting next week.

As part of the update, OpenAI has introduced five new voices—Arbor, Maple, Sol, Spruce, and Vale—bringing the total number of available voices to nine. The nature-inspired names align with the goal of making interactions feel more natural. However, one voice that will not be returning is “Sky,” which was removed following legal threats from actress Scarlett Johansson, who claimed the voice sounded too similar to her own portrayal of an AI system in the movie Her.

While voice features are expanding, some anticipated updates, like video and screen-sharing functionalities, are still missing. These capabilities were showcased earlier this year and are meant to let ChatGPT process both visual and audio information simultaneously, but there is no official launch date yet. OpenAI says improvements have been made to the voice feature, enhancing its ability to understand different accents and improving conversation flow. The company has also integrated Custom Instructions and Memory into AVM, allowing users to personalize their experience further.

However, AVM is not available everywhere yet; it remains unavailable in regions like the EU, U.K., Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein.

In other news, OpenAI is launching the OpenAI Academy which will invest in developers and organizations leveraging AI to help solve hard problems

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James Cameron Joins Board of Stability AI in Coup for Tech Firm

In a significant development for the tech world, Stability AI, the company behind the popular generative AI model Stable Diffusion, announced that acclaimed filmmaker James Cameron will join its board of directors. Cameron, known for groundbreaking films like Avatar, Terminator, and Titanic, has long been at the forefront of technological innovation in the film industry. His latest move underscores his belief that the fusion of generative AI and computer-generated imagery (CGI) will revolutionize visual storytelling.

Cameron expressed enthusiasm for this new chapter, stating that the convergence of AI and CGI will offer artists unprecedented ways to tell stories. He emphasized that, as someone who embraced CGI decades ago, he sees generative AI as the next major wave of film technology. Stability AI's CEO, Prem Akkaraju, who has a background in visual effects as the former CEO of WETA Digital, welcomed Cameron to the team, highlighting his forward-thinking approach and visionary perspective as a key asset for the company's future.

Stability AI has been making waves in both the tech and entertainment sectors, with Sean Parker, former Facebook president and Napster founder, also recently joining as executive chairman. The company raised $80 million earlier this year, further fueling its ambition to lead the transformation of visual media with AI. Parker and Akkaraju both lauded Cameron's appointment, viewing it as a turning point that could reshape the creative industries and bring unprecedented advancements to generative media.

While Hollywood is increasingly exploring AI technologies, there remains a tension between the tech's potential and concerns from creators. Although firms like Lionsgate and NBCUniversal have embraced AI for custom models and content creation, others have expressed legal concerns over AI’s use of copyrighted content without permission, highlighting the complex relationship between the entertainment industry and AI.

OpenAI Pitched White House on Unprecedented Data Center Buildout

OpenAI has proposed to the Biden administration a plan to build massive data centers, each capable of using up to 5 gigawatts of power — an amount comparable to powering entire cities. During a recent meeting at the White House, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other tech leaders discussed the initiative, emphasizing the importance of these facilities for advancing artificial intelligence (AI) and maintaining the US's competitive edge against China. According to a document viewed by Bloomberg, the 5 gigawatt centers, equivalent to five nuclear reactors or nearly 3 million homes' worth of energy, would create tens of thousands of jobs and boost the country's gross domestic product. However, achieving this goal would require supportive policies that enable increased data center capacity.

Altman has been working throughout the year to secure a coalition of investors to fund the infrastructure needed for these large-scale data centers while seeking government backing for the project. The pitch comes amid significant delays in US power projects due to issues with grid connectivity, supply chains, and labor shortages. While OpenAI is currently focusing on one data center to start, there are potential plans to expand further.

However, some energy executives have raised concerns about the feasibility of building such large facilities. Joe Dominguez, CEO of Constellation Energy Corp., expressed skepticism, saying that constructing even a single 5 GW data center would be a complex task, likely taking longer than necessary to address urgent national security concerns. Despite these challenges, OpenAI remains committed to its vision, viewing this AI infrastructure as key to maintaining the US's leadership in global innovation.

Other stuff

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• Sam Altman catapults past founder mode into ‘god mode’ with latest AI post 🔥🔥

• Spotify’s AI playlist feature rolls out to the US and more markets

• EA Shows Off AI System That Lets You Dream Up an Entire Videogame From Scratch 🔥

• Is Math the Path to Chatbots That Don’t Make Stuff Up?

• OpenAI Training Data to Be Inspected in Authors’ Copyright Cases

• Meta's AI chatbot to start speaking in the voices of Judi Dench, John Cena, and others

• Hacker plants false memories in ChatGPT to steal user data in perpetuity 🔥

• An AI can beat CAPTCHA tests 100 percent of the time

• Cloudflare’s new marketplace will let websites charge AI bots for scraping 🔥

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