Latest news with #voicechat
TechCrunch
27-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
Anthropic launches a voice mode for Claude
Anthropic has begun to roll out a 'voice mode' for its Claude chatbot apps. The voice mode allows Claude mobile app users to have 'complete spoken conversations with Claude,' and will arrive in English over the next few weeks, according to Anthropic's official account on X and updated documentation on the company's website. At least one user on X reports having gained access to voice mode late Tuesday. By default, it's powered by Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 4 model. 'Voice mode … enables you to speak to Claude and hear responses through voice, making it easier to use Claude when your hands are busy but your mind isn't,' reads a support page. 'Voice mode transforms how you interact with Claude by … displaying key points on-screen as Claude speaks [and] allowing you to speak to Claude and hear Claude's voice responses.' We're rolling out voice mode in beta on mobile. Try starting a voice conversation and asking Claude to summarize your calendar or search your docs. — Anthropic (@AnthropicAI) May 27, 2025 A number of AI companies, including OpenAI, offer voice chat experiences for their respective chatbots. Google, for example, has Gemini Live, while xAI has Voice Mode for Grok. Each lets users interact with bots by speaking instead of typing, making conversations feel more natural and intuitive. With Anthropic's flavor of voice mode, users can chat about things like documents and images, and choose from five distinct voice options. Users can also switch between text and voice on the fly, and see a transcript and summary following conversations. The capability has certain limits. Voice conversations count toward regular usage caps — Anthropic says that 20-30 conversations is what most free users can expect. Moreover, only paid Claude subscribers can take advantage of a Google Workspace connector that allows voice mode to access Google Calendar appointments and Gmail emails (Google Docs integration is exclusive to Claude Enterprise plans). Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | REGISTER NOW Anthropic CPO Mike Krieger confirmed the company was working on voice capabilities for Claude in an interview with the Financial Times in early March. According to the report, Anthropic was holding talks with Amazon, the company's major investor and partner, and voice-focused AI startup ElevenLabs, to possibly drive future voice features for Claude. It's unclear which of those partnerships, if any, came to fruition.
The Sun
23-05-2025
- The Sun
WhatsApp adds ANOTHER new button in major change for group chats – and people fear it could start arguments
WHATSAPP has revealed another shake-up coming to billions of accounts across the world. The messaging app has made a number of unpopular changes lately, including an AI chatbot button you can't get rid of. 1 In the latest update, Meta tech boss Mark Zuckerberg, 41, announced that group chats will now have an "audio hangouts" feature. Unlike normal voice chats, these are moments everyone can seamlessly hop in and out of at any time. It's designed to work without having to leave your group chat or switch to a call. And it won't notify or ring anyone either. The feature was previously limited to large groups only but now anyone in your group can start a voice chat. "Today we're rolling out Voice Chats to all groups on WhatsApp, making it easier to create an audio hangout that anyone in your group can pop in and out of," Zuckerberg said. His company added: "Whether it's a nail-biting football game, a dramatic season finale or sharing some big news, sometimes you need to talk it out with those available at that moment. "That's why we're bringing voice chat to groups of all sizes so you can connect live over audio whenever." But some users have already asked how to disable the tool, while others fear it could ignite arguments. "Is there a way to disable the voice chat?," one person wrote on X. WhatsApp is closing down on three mobile devices in hours with users blocked from sending and receiving messages "Finally, group debates can go from passive-aggressive texting to full-blown voice chaos," another joked. "I'm here for it." A third commented: "Group chats just leveled up. Why text-fight when you can talk it out live?" The move comes days after WhatsApp shut down on three popular smartphones. Meta put out an update at the start of May which caused WhatsApp to stop working permanently. OPINION: AI FOR WHATSAPP IS NOT THE WAY By Jamie Harris, Assistant Technology and Assistant Editor at The Sun When will Meta stop pushing all this extra guff and let WhatsApp be a chat app? It's gradually morphing into its bigger sibling, Facebook, with status updates and communities, already perfectly served elsewhere. Or, at least give people real choice with an option to hide them. WhatsApp is powerful because virtually everyone has it, with billions of users across the globe. It's the one place where all my family updates are usefully kept - in between useless chatter about the neighbour's latest disruption or moans about the council not cleaning the street. We make important arrangements there, share holiday snaps and live location when meeting up, and for that I'm thankful for WhatsApp's vital role. But with the arrival of an AI chatbot, I'm ready to delete WhatsApp unless bosses change course pronto. From May 5, WhatsApp only supported iPhones running iOS 15.1 or later. This meant handsets too old to update to iOS 15.1 are effectively shut out of the app. The following models are affected: iPhone 5s iPhone 6 iPhone 6 Plus Anyone in a WhatsApp group can start a voice chat by swiping up and holding for a few seconds. Voice chats are pinned to the bottom of your chat.
CNET
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNET
AI-Voiced Darth Vader Can Say 'May the F*** Be With You' in Fortnite: How to Find It
It didn't take long after Epic Games unleashed famous Star Wars Sith lord Darth Vader into the game Fortnite -- complete with the AI-enabled voice of late actor James Earl Jones for conversations with players -- for Vader to drop the F-bomb. As seen on multiple social-media videos, Vader can be prompted to say lots of things you wouldn't find in a Star Wars script, such as curse words, "Skibidi toilet" and to share his thoughts on breasts. A representative from Epic Games pointed to a post on X saying that the company has already addressed the apparent lack of language filtering. The post reads, "We pushed a hotfix immediately and this shouldn't happen again." But gamers were apparently able to capture footage of inappropriate banter from Vader in the time before the fix was issue. Epic is asking gamers to report any additional problems. Parents must enable the option to "allow voice and written communication with AI features" for kid accounts to speak with Vader. Where is this F-bomb dropping Vader? It's likely you've missed the window to have an R-rated conversation with Luke Skywalker's father -- although you can find clips that others have saved and posted on social media. But Vader can still be found in Fortnite's Battle Royale mode in the Samurai's Solitude area in the southwest of the map. Your party can recruit the new Vader, who replaced Samurai Vader, and have an AI chatbot conversation with him. Epic used Google's Gemini 2.0 Flash model for the responses. The family of Jones, who voiced the character since the first Star Wars movie, gave Epic permission to use his voice with AI models. "James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it," the family said in a statement. "We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character."
