Anthropic is nearing the launch of a new voice assistant product for its Claude chatbot, nearly a year after rival OpenAI began rolling out a similar option for ChatGPT users. The new feature, called “voice mode,” could be released as soon this month and will initially roll out on a limited basis, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss private matters. Current plans include introducing three voices named Airy, Mellow and British-accented Buttery, according to the person and a Bloomberg News review of the app’s publicly available iOS code. Launch plans could change, however.Anthropic executives have previously said the company is working on a voice option, but the specific timeline and details of the release have not been reported. The planned feature was discovered in Anthropic’s code by app researcher M1Astra and shared with Bloomberg News, which confirmed the findings. Anthropic declined to comment.Voice assistants have emerged as a key feature for AI developers like OpenAI and Alphabet Inc.’s Google — with the promise of changing how people interact with chatbots and making users more productive. But the rise of AI voice products has also raised concerns about impersonating how other people speak. OpenAI delayed releasing its voice assistant for several months last year to work through potential risks.Anthropic, founded in 2021 by former employees of OpenAI, has positioned itself as a reliable, safety-conscious firm that users can trust. The startup has also focused on selling products to businesses. In recent months, Anthropic has released a slew of new features, including a web search tool and coding assistant, to keep pace with OpenAI and other competitors. On Tuesday, Anthropic announced that it’s putting out a new AI feature called “Research” that searches the web as well as data from corporate customers to give thorough, comprehensive answers backed by citations. The service is similar to OpenAI’s Deep Research, which was announced in February.Anthropic said it is also adding the ability for Claude users to search through their Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs to streamline work.
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