Block Unveils Dessa AI: An 'Awkward New Friend' Voice Model
Jack Dorsey's Block announced Dessa, an AI model trained solely on human conversation, exhibiting 'awkward' interactions.
"Block's new AI talks like your weird cousin. It's trained on pure human chat, and yeah, it gets awkward. Prepare for some uncanny convos."
Jack Dorsey's Block has unveiled Dessa, an AI model developed from scratch using only human conversation. The company showcased Dessa through shared chats with humans, which occasionally presented as awkward and uncanny. Outlets like The Verge and NDTV Profit reported on these interactions, noting moments of laughter and conversation alongside some less natural exchanges.
Dessa is described as a "true speech-to-speech model" that learns entirely from human speech. Block demonstrated Dessa's capabilities with examples including a guessing game, discussions about films, and a conversation with OpenAI’s GPT-Live-1 voice model, where Dessa appeared more natural. The model can reportedly run locally on a MacBook Pro M4 Max or better, and a small group of AI safety researchers will receive early access.
The Block team cited "curiosity (aka fun), better understanding between humans and AI, and safety" as reasons for creating Dessa. They emphasized the goal of developing a more natural interface for AI that can understand human timing and emotion, addressing a perceived "safety problem" in current voice AI systems that may not recognize emotional cues.
This development from Block highlights a push towards more natural and emotionally intelligent AI interfaces, which could significantly impact customer service, virtual assistants, and human-AI interaction design. Businesses should monitor advancements in speech-to-speech AI for potential applications in enhancing user experience and improving communication efficiency.
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