Can You Be Emotionally Reliant on an A.I. Voice? OpenAI Says Yes.
A report acknowledged that users of GPT-4o form unusual bonds with the software’s voice response feature, which the company says warrants further study.
In a report released this week, OpenAI revealed that it had considered the potential for users to form an emotional reliance on its new, humanlike voice mode, which is featured in its popular artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT.
The company noted in the report, which concerned safety steps that were taken during product development, that during early testing, users were observed engaging in language that might indicate the formation of a connection with the model. The software participates in conversation by receiving and responding to voice commands, images and videos.
“For example, this includes language expressing shared bonds, such as ‘This is our last day together,’” according to the report. “While these instances appear benign, they signal a need for continued investigation into how these effects might manifest over longer periods of time.”
The voice feature was announced this spring as part of the ChatGPT app’s newest model, known as GPT-4o. The new version of ChatGPT was unveiled in May and the voice capability was made available to paid users last week. It is expected to roll out to all users in the fall.
