Anthropic is working on a voice assistant feature for Claude AI

Summary: Anthropic is reportedly working on a voice assistant powered by AI. This update brings Claude’s features closer to its competitor, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which introduced a similar feature over a year ago.

If you ask people who they think the “best” AI is, you’d be surprised because the answer isn’t always OpenAI’s ChatGPT. In fact, more often than not, you’ll see Anthropic’s Claude mentioned several times. It just so happens that OpenAI was the first to market and has a better marketing machine.

However, OpenAI does have some advantages over Claude. This includes features like a voice mode that lets users chat with the AI using their voice. That said, Anthropic is working to close this gap. According to a Bloomberg report, Anthropic is getting ready to launch a new voice assistant feature for Claude. Anthropic could roll this out as soon as this month, but only on a limited basis.

Voice-powered AI assistant

Anthropic had previously revealed its plans for a voice option. Anthropic’s chief product officer, Mike Kreiger, revealed it in an interview with the Financial Times last month. “We will do voice internally, too; it is a useful modality to have. We have prototypes.” However, the company didn’t say when it actually plans to release it. Now, this report suggests that it could take place soon.

While voice-powered digital assistants aren’t new (think Google Assistant, Alexa, and Siri), AI voice assistants like ChatGPT and Anthropic are much better in terms of functionality. This is largely due to their ability to understand natural language. Digital assistants like Google Assistant rely on keywords to function, like asking for the weather or directions. Google launched its Gemini assistant to solve this problem.

However, natural language models allow you to phrase it more naturally. It’s almost like you’re having a conversation with a friend or a hotel concierge.

Available for all?

That being said, we don’t know if the upcoming voice assistant feature will be available to all users. Claude is currently available as a free model. But there are paid tiers as well, starting at $20 a month. Recently, the company also introduced a higher tier that costs $200 a month.