• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, December 19, 2024

With voice said to be the future of search, OpenAI has created a service for users to call in from any type of phone -- from cellular to rotary -- and get information by using their voice to conduct the search. 

The special gift this holiday season from users to OpenAI is data. Some of the data OpenAI is likely to gain includes voiceprints, audio inflections, location, and names and phone numbers if the number isn't blocked.

OpenAI’s chief product officer Kevin Weil said on a livestream that the feature had been a project developed just within the past few weeks. Users can call ChatGPT in the U.S. and message via WhatsApp globally at 1-800-242-8478. There's a 15-minute limit per phone number per month.

Company executives want users to add ChatGPT to their contact list on phones. There is a potential for a huge number of calls within one month. It's not clear whether the company will eventually add sponsored ads or the ability to show preference to one business over another -- or link the call data with text and image data on a search engine, whether it is OpenAI's or another.

The ability to access ChatGPT by calling a phone could become a valuable tool for travelers in the United States as they try to maneuver through airports and unfamiliar roads. The company likely will roll out the feature worldwide to provide the same type of service. Voice and a dial-in number provides an easy way to access information on the go.

The news follows a long list of updates from OpenAI as part of a 12-day holiday release event. Other announcements included the rollout of Sora, OpenAI’s AI video-generation tool, and the integration of search into ChatGPT for free. 

The features are part of an aggressive push to make OpenAI the preferred information and AI tool as companies such as Anthropic, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Perplexity, xAI and other move forward to change the future of technology.

Early this year, Bloomberg estimated that generative AI (GAI) would become a $1.3 trillion market by 2032. That market would include hardware, software, services, ads and gaming segments. The compounded annual rate of growth is estimates to reach 43%, according to its proprietary market-sizing model.