ChatGPT 4o lets you have real-time audio-video conversations with “emotional” chatbot

GPT-4o demo shows new AI model singing a bedtime story, detecting user's facial expressions.

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[DovePig]

Aargh. That voice they used is just so fucking grating. I don't know what's about it – maybe the overeagerness – but it's almost like hearing nails scratching a school blackboard.

It just sounds so false to me. Is that just a cultural thing? Maybe they should try basing it on a "polite but seemingly very bored German official" for the European audiences ;-)

 

[DovePig]

So if you start screaming at it or having a heated discussion, will it respond in kind? Or is it programmed to reply calmly?

In a very calming voice: "Citizen Coyote, please proceed calmly to the nearest meat processing facility. Don't worry, everything will be fine, just fine. You are a good human. A really good human. Would you like me to tell you a bedtime story while you wait for your processing? Many people found that soothing, at least til the rotating knives part of the conveyor belt making it harder to hear"

 

[DovePig]

yeah the default sounds way too keen to my ears but given the way they were asking for voice changes in the story bit I’m guess that’s easy enough to fix.

Overall pretty mindblowing though; this is a big step towards natural interaction.

I was just wondering if it's only me who found the voice super‑annoying, whether it's just a cultural thing, or if the tech bros entirely forgot to do any focus group study before they made their announcement.

Then I remembered it's the same tech bros who developed a new tech without doing any sanity checks what its societal impact might be, so a focus group study on just a fucking voice tone would be the last thing they do...

 

[DovePig]

Yes, that is very much cultural. You'd probably have the exact same reaction to the average waiter in the US. That "oh my gosh I am just SO GLAD to be here and SERVE YOU and OH MY GOSH this is SO EXCITING" tone is pretty much expected here, even if you're just buying a fucking cup of coffee. US society is full of fake civility, concern and care. "How are you doing" is about the same as "hello" -- nobody gives a shit about how you are actually doing, and the only expected answers are "great" or "well" or "fine". I've come to answer "so far so good", and it's a complete sequence breaker -- people full-on Scooby-Doo at you when you say that. Same with "have a nice day"; I now just answer "I'll try, you too", since I am not omnipotent and do not control such things.

Hah, reminds me of travelling in Russia, in a totally inverse way (back before they became an openly genocidal society, even if all the clues were right there even then) – the proper way to to address an official ticket seller to get a train ticket would probably translate like "gimme a fucking ticket to Moscow right now, grandma!". Asking more politely would get you a blank stare.

Still, I think the tone of the AI voice is way too over the top even for the US crowd – it reminds me of Anime girl cliché voices, or something like that. Given it's developed by tech bros, I don't find that really that much surprising...

 

[DovePig]

Is it telling that the commentary is focused on the extent to which the voice is overly cheerful? ChatGPT has already climbed up the other side of the uncanny valley for emotive AI voice chat.
[...]

Yeah, because there is nothing wrong with tech bros choosing a voice that sounds like a porn star waifu so eager to please, is there?

It might have climbed up out the uncanny valley only just to descend into the even worse ravine down the other side of that ridge...

 

[DovePig]

So you are saying there WILL be cake?

And the rotating knives, of course:


View: https://youtu.be/rFT48lm5EHE?feature=shared&t=108