OpenAI to demonstrate voice assistant, Apple to upgrade Siri

[Graphics by Song Ji-yoon and Lee Eun-joo]

OpenAI, the developer behind generative artificial intelligence (AI) ChatGPT, is poised to unveil its own custom-made AI voice assistant that understands human speech and engages in conversation.

Tech publication The Information reported on Saturday local time that OpenAI will demonstrate an AI voice assistant similar to the one in the movie, “Her” on Monday.

OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman also announced via his social media account that the updates for ChatGPT and GPT-4, which will be revealed through a live YouTube broadcast at 10 a.m. on Monday, are not a “search engine” or “GPT-5.”

Altman posted that the updates are “not GPT-5, not a search engine, but we’ve been hard at work on some new stuff we think people will love,” adding that it “feels like magic to me.”

The announcements will be made the day before Google LLC’s annual developer conference, I/O, leading to speculation that this is a marketing strategy to divert attention from Google to OpenAI.

Google is currently upgrading its voice AI assistant, Google Assistant, to Gemini AI assistant and replacing the previous version installed on smartphones. Updates related to AI voice assistants may also be announced at I/O.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported on Saturday that Apple Inc., which has announced major updates related to AI at the upcoming WWDC, will also upgrade its voice AI assistant, Siri.

According to the report, Siri will be equipped with generative AI, allowing it to engage in conversations rather than simply providing answers when asked a question.

Industry insiders noted that OpenAI could also announce that ChatGPT will be integrated into the iPhone during the WWDC event. Apple has nearly finalized its licensing agreement with OpenAI, according to Bloomberg, and insiders noted that ChatGPT will be officially integrated into the iPhone and available for customers to use. ChatGPT can currently engage in conversations via voice but cannot perform tasks such as setting alarms or reading text messages.

Silicon Valley companies such as OpenAI and Apple are not the only ones creating AI voice assistants. In South Korea, Samsung Electronics Co. will integrate its generative AI-based voice AI assistant, Bixby, into Samsung home appliances starting in July 2024 while LG Electronics Inc. embedded its proprietary voice recognition engine, ThinQ Voice, into its smart home platform LG ThinQ.

Voice assistants built on generative AI can engage in much more human-like conversations and have outstanding speech recognition as well as contextual understanding abilities.