OpenAI's ChatGPT enhances capabilities with voice and image support

OpenAI is rolling out a significant update to its ChatGPT, bringing voice conversations and image interaction capabilities to the popular chatbot, bringing it closer to AI assistants like Apple's Siri. 

In a recent blog post, OpenAI highlighted that the addition of voice functionality "opens doors to many creative and accessibility-focused applications." 

Other AI services, such as Siri, Google Voice Assistant, and Amazon's Alexa, are commonly integrated into devices, serving tasks like setting alarms, providing reminders, and delivering internet-based information. 

The new voice feature in ChatGPT enables it to narrate bedtime stories, settle dinner table debates, and vocalize text input from users. Spotify is also leveraging this technology for podcasters to translate content into different languages, the blog said. 

With image support, users can snap pictures of objects around them and ask ChatGPT to troubleshoot issues, plan meals based on fridge contents, or analyze complex graphs for work-related data. Currently, Google Lens is a popular choice for gaining information from images. 

These new features will be rolled out to subscribers of ChatGPT's Plus and Enterprise plans in the next two weeks. 

The introduction of these enhancements comes amidst intensifying competition in the chatbot and AI landscape. Tech giants are racing to not only launch new chatbot applications but also introduce innovative features. Google has announced several updates to its Bard chatbot, while Microsoft has integrated visual search into Bing.