If you’ve ever felt alone and just need someone to talk to, OpenAI is here to help. Today the company announced that anyone can now call ChatGPT at 1-800-CHATGPT (242-8478). Calls are limited to 15 minutes per month; anyone outside the U.S. can also send text messages with ChatGPT via WhatsApp at the same number.
OpenAI has recently been promoting voice and video interaction as a more natural way to interact with ChatGPT. Users of the ChatGPT app can turn on their cameras and ask the bot questions about what it sees.
Today’s release seems like a clever play for cheap attention – people who use ChatGPT are likely to be tech-savvy, and probably already interact with the chatbot through the app. But that’s the point: OpenAI believes that ChatGPT’s availability over the phone can introduce the chatbot to newcomers. The company told The Verge that it will not use these conversations for training purposes. Of course, OpenAI has also previously stated that it is a non-profit organization that seeks to make humanity’s life better. Everything is changing.
Anyone who wants to use more advanced features or have access to higher usage limits will still want to use the standard ChatGPT app. This is similar to how ChatGPT is now integrated into iOS via Siri. Some questions will be passed to ChatGPT to answer, but if you want the full experience, you’ll need to go to the ChatGPT app itself. Integration with iOS is a way for OpenAI to promote the product to more than a billion Apple users.
Recently, OpenAI has been announcing new products every day as part of the 12 Days of Shipmas. Other announcements were more significant, such as the release of the Sora video generator and Canvas, a new way to interact with ChatGPT. It seems that today’s announcement was more of a cheap filler.
