OpenAIs Controversial Delay in Releasing Speech Function Sparks Strong Reaction

CoinDesk reported:
On Wednesday, OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research company behind ChatGPT, delayed the launch of its voice mode, a highly anticipated feature that caused a stir when showcased in last month’s product update. The company stated that it needs “about a month” to complete the work, sparking harsh criticism from users and the AI community.
Its voice mode was perhaps the most attention-grabbing announcement at the OpenAI event, released alongside the latest large language model, ChatGPT-40. It allows users to interact with chatbots through voice and have natural-sounding conversations.
The demonstration also invited comparisons to the science fiction movie “Her,” which features the voice of actress Scarlett Johansson. Johansson quickly threatened legal action over the similar voice, prompting OpenAI to swiftly announce the removal of the voice from its library.
In announcing the delay, OpenAI stated that it could not move forward with the feature as planned in the limited “alpha” version in June due to the need for more work.
The company explained, “We are improving the model’s ability to detect and reject certain content.” “We are also committed to improving the user experience and preparing to scale our infrastructure to millions while maintaining real-time responsiveness.”
Users were not pleased with what they read, and OpenAI’s statement quickly drew scorn from the AI community.
Many critics quickly pointed out OpenAI’s history of overpromising and underdelivering and compared its performance record to its competitors. AI enthusiast Ashutosh Shrivastava wrote on Twitter, “Just like humans.” “They don’t do demos and hype, just go silent for 3-4 months.”
AI Youtuber Matt Wolfe claimed the delay was part of OpenAI’s business strategy.
He said, “Show something exciting to prove how far ahead you are, and then never let people use it.” He called it “Sola therapy.” The video generating tool Sola is another OpenAI product that has received widespread acclaim but still has limited usage.
Benjamin De Kraker, creator of FinalFrame AI, shared his frustration, claiming that specific features sold by OpenAI were later killed due to lack of use or interest.
“The plug-in is dead, GPT store is dead, voice is delayed, memory is mediocre,” he wrote on Twitter, “the core model and API are stable, but all the hype of ‘this changes the way people use AI!’ has been blown up.”
The delay also led many users to question the value of their ChatGPT Plus subscriptions. Peruvian medical researcher Patrick Wieghardt suggested it might be time to end the subscription, while another user stated that they had cancelled their subscription. An AI current affairs newsletter publisher wrote, “Paying for what you get for free now makes no sense to me.”
Some observers believe that the full release of the voice mode may take several months. Ryan Morrison, AI editor at “Tom’s Guide,” stated that he believes mid-November is a more realistic timeframe – after the U.S. election.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.