Want to talk to ChatGPT? OpenAI gives you a phone number!
Starting today, users in the United States and Canada can directly dial “1-800-ChatGPT (1-800-242-8478)” from their mobile or landline phones to converse with ChatGPT. Users in other regions can add the same number to their contacts on WhatsApp.
“OpenAI’s mission is to make the benefits of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) available to all humans, part of which is to make it as accessible as possible,” said Kevin Weil, Chief Product Officer at OpenAI, during a live broadcast on December 18th.
OpenAI has recently demonstrated ChatGPT’s applications on various devices, with Apple integrating ChatGPT into its latest iOS 18.2 update. This integration allows Siri, the voice assistant, to suggest using ChatGPT in specific situations and provide responses directly through Siri.
Furthermore, OpenAI’s “Hack We” project team, established just a few weeks ago, enables users without internet access to “call” ChatGPT using traditional landline telephony features.
When conversing with ChatGPT, be careful not to reveal too many secrets.
“I am the AI assistant ChatGPT, for security reasons, our conversation content may be reviewed…” the call connects, and ChatGPT greets with a lifelike voice. OpenAI employees demonstrated asking 1-800-ChatGPT for roadside attractions and translations, showing that the phone line version responds as smoothly as the online voice chat feature.
For WhatsApp users, global access to ChatGPT does not require logging into a ChatGPT account. Users can engage in text conversations with ChatGPT on WhatsApp without the need for an account. However, features like web search, image uploads, and file uploads that require logging in can only be accessed through the application or website.
According to Fortune magazine, many observers believe that 1-800-ChatGPT is aimed at helping OpenAI collect voice data with different accents and speech patterns. In the past, Google has faced criticism for collecting voice data from Google Assistant to develop and improve its speech recognition technology, potentially compromising user privacy by sharing recorded content with external parties.
Nevertheless, an OpenAI spokesperson informed Fortune that call records from 1-800-ChatGPT and WhatsApp messages will not be used to train language models.
Currently, users in the United States and Canada have a monthly limit of 15 minutes for voice calls. OpenAI stated that 1-800-ChatGPT is an experimental project, and its features and restrictions may change.
Sources: OpenAI YouTube, FORTUNE, The Guardian
This article is authorized for reprint from: BusinessNext.
Taiwan users can also add ChatGPT to their contacts on WhatsApp.