OpenAI is adding its latest, most-advanced voice capabilities to the ChatGPT desktop app, allowing users to talk to their computers and ask the AI to complete tasks in a stream-of-consciousness, hands-free manner.
The move extends the GPT Live voice technology—which OpenAI released earlier this month on mobile devices—to desktop and laptop PCs. That makes the voice technology accessible to software programmers, the AI power users who consume vast amounts of AI tokens in their jobs writing computer code and who are considered one of the most lucrative segments of the AI market.
OpenAI said that ChatGPT Voice, the name of its new desktop voice feature, will work while coding through Codex, OpenAI’s programming product which competes with Anthropic’s Claude Code. Users can program a hotkey to launch ChatGPT Voice to talk to it while they’re working in other apps, making it readily accessible, or use a designated Voice button within the ChatGPT desktop app.
OpenAI is leaning into voice technology, viewing it as a competitive advantage in a crowded field of AI model makers. The company first rolled out voice recognition capabilities for its chatbot in 2024, but the newly released GPT Live technology provides more advanced capabilities that make conversations feel more natural. GPT-Live may also power the company’s forthcoming hardware device, which Bloomberg reports will be an in-home speaker and conversation partner.
“Today’s launch is a step toward this future: talk through what you need, and ChatGPT can start moving multiple tasks forward at the speed of your thought,” OpenAI said in a statement.
According to the company, ChatGPT Voice will allow a user to kick off multiple work streams from a single conversation, and continue talking while agents complete the tasks in the background. The company gives the example of planning a work trip, with the user asking ChatGPT to check their calendar for conflicts, comb their inbox for any changes to the flight, and prepare notes for meetings—all “while you make coffee or work on something else.”
The voice feature also lets users also talk through an idea with ChatGPT, while it creates a new document outlining the concept and next steps.
OpenAI merged Codex into ChatGPT on July 9, forming a new product called ChatGPT Work. At the time, it said five million people use Codex every week. Following the launch of ChatGPT Work, Thibault Sottiaux, who oversees Codex, tweeted that the product had hit 10 million users.
