If you are ever feeling lonely and just need someone to talk to, OpenAI has you covered. The company today announced that anyone can now call ChatGPT by phone at the number 1-800-CHATGPT (242-8478). Callers are limited to 15 minutes per month; anyone outside the U.S. can also text with ChatGPT via WhatsApp at the same number.
OpenAI has been pushing voice and video interaction recently as a more natural way of interacting with ChatGPT. Users of the ChatGPT app can turn their cameras on and ask the bot questions about what it sees.
Today’s release seems like a gimmicky play to drive some cheap attention—people using ChatGPT are probably tech-savvy, after all, and probably already interface with the chatbot through an app. But that is kind of the point: OpenAI says making ChatGPT accessible via telephone can introduce the chatbot to newcomers. The company told The Verge that it will not use these conversations for training. Of course, OpenAI also used to say it was a non-profit dedicated to making life better for humanity. Things change.
Anyone who wants to use more comprehensive features or have access to higher usage limits will still want to use the standard ChatGPT app. That is similar to how ChatGPT is now integrated into iOS through Siri. Some questions will be passed along for ChatGPT to answer, but if you want the full experience you will need to go to the ChatGPT app itself. The integration with iOS is a way for OpenAI to promote the product to Apple’s more than one billion users.
OpenAI has been announcing new products every day recently as part of its “12 Days of Shipmas.” Other announcements have been more significant, like the release of the Sora video generator and Canvas, a new way of interfacing with ChatGPT. It seems like today’s announcement was more of a cheap filler.
