ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode has now landed for some – but a full rollout could be delayed

Some Plus subscribers may need to wait until the end of 2024

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

ChatGPT’s impressive new Advanced Voice Mode, which itdemoed back in Mayduring the launch of GPT-4o, is now rolling out to some Plus subscribers. But a new OpenAI comment suggests that a full release for the feature may not happen until the end of the year.

As noted onReddit’s ChatGPT subreddit, a new message is appearing in the ChatGPT app (below) stating that “our rollout of Advanced Voice Mode has started”.OpenAIsays that “we’re slowly enrolling users in the alpha to ensure the quality of the experience”.

While that’s promising news for those who’ve been waiting to chat to what could be the world’s smartest voice assistant, there’s also a slight sting at the end of the note. It states that “all Plus users will have access by the end of fall”, which is a subtle difference from previous guidance that it would roll out for everyone “in the fall”.

Technically, that means the new feature’s full rollout – which will let you create customizable character voices or act as a live translator – should happen somewhere between late September and December 24. It could be earlier if OpenAI is referring to a meteorological ‘fall’, but ‘by the end of 2024’ is perhaps more realistic guidance for a release to all Plus subscribers.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing you can do to get the feature aside from waiting –OpenAI says “we’ll let you know as soon as you’re in”. Still, with some Plus subscribers claiming that they now have the feature, we should start to see some real-world demos to whet our appetites and see what the next-gen version of ChatGPT’s voice mode is capable of.

Why the long wait?

OpenAI previously hinted in apost on X (formerly Twitter)that its delayed rollout of ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode was for safety reasons, as it was “improving the model’s ability to detect and refuse certain content”.

But another factor is also scaling the feature while maintaining the near-instantaneous response times we’ve seen inOpenAI’s demos. It previously stated that it was spending extra time to work on “improving the user experience and preparing our infrastructure to scale to millions while maintaining real-time responses”.

Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.

Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.

There was always the possibility for delays with OpenAI stating that “exact timelines depend on meeting our high safety and reliability bar”. But with some Plus users stating that they now have the feature, those kinks will hopefully be ironed out in the next few weeks in the run-up to a full launch.

Another potential reason for the delay is that OpenAI’s resources may well be stretched right now, as it’s alsojust announced the beta launch of SearchGPT.You can nowjoin the waitlistfor theGoogle-rivaling search engine, but as it’s only at a “prototype” stage a full release will likely come after ChatGPT’s advanced voice mode.

You might also like…

Mark is TechRadar’s Senior news editor. Having worked in tech journalism for a ludicrous 17 years, Mark is now attempting to break the world record for the number of camera bags hoarded by one person. He was previously Cameras Editor at both TechRadar and Trusted Reviews, Acting editor on Stuff.tv, as well as Features editor and Reviews editor on Stuff magazine. As a freelancer, he’s contributed to titles including The Sunday Times, FourFourTwo and Arena. And in a former life, he also won The Daily Telegraph’s Young Sportswriter of the Year. But that was before he discovered the strange joys of getting up at 4am for a photo shoot in London’s Square Mile.

ChatGPT coded a game for me in seconds and I am simply astounded – and coders should be very worried

Top 3 things you have to try with the new ChatGPT search

I’ve used Genmoji and now I’m convinced Apple Intelligence will be a huge success