Say goodbye to Siri and Google Assistant, ChatGPT's latest update shows that it could be your next digital assistant. Last September, ChatGPT gained the ability to listen and respond, allowing users to have conversations with generative AI. Soon, ChatGPT may completely replace digital assistants like Siri and Google Assistant.
According to an update by OpenAI on December 21, ChatGPT now has a new feature (disabled by default, but can be turned on), which, according to Android Authority, will allow it to act as your phone's voice assistant outside of the ChatGPT app. When OpenAI released ChatGPT's voice assistant, it was a signal that generative AI would make digital assistants smarter in 2024. However, a recent update from OpenAI shows that ChatGPT may replace Siri and Google Assistant sooner than we thought. Digital assistants have long defaulted to assistants provided by phone manufacturers, but ChatGPT's new features could pose a threat to this.
When turned on manually, this feature looks a lot like Google Assistant or Siri, displaying OpenAI's rotating icon in the corner of the screen outside the ChatGPT app. At the moment, this option doesn't seem to be fully functional, and Android Authority doesn't speak to the assistant outside of the ChatGPT app. This new activity appears in ChatGPT as "com."openai.voice.assistant.assistantactivity", which reportedly includes many of the claims required to become the default digital assistant. Although it is not finished yet, it seems to hint at what the OpenAI app could become in the future.
OpenAI hasn't officially announced this feature yet, but the company's CEO, Sam Altman, has repeatedly said that AI will change the way we interact with technology. "At the end of the day, you just tell the computer what you need, and it does all of these tasks for you," Altman said on the company's DevDay in November. ”
Several AI hardware products are already in development. The Humane AI PIN uses voice technology as a key part of its operating system. Sam Altman and iPhone designer Jonny Ive are reportedly working on an AI hardware device that combines Apple's sophisticated hardware with OpenAI's software. According to a recent report from Tom's Guide, Apple is also planning a major generative AI upgrade for Siri at WWDC 2024.
Leveraging AI-empowered digital assistants could mean that the next AI device is in your pocket. Your smartphone may get an AI upgrade in the next few years, and the main avenue may be through your digital assistant.