Virtual vocal computer assistant concept. Vocal sound recognized Business Service Help … [+]
In a way, we have always known that it was the time of the AI basin – when we really start to converse with these digital entities, as if they were real people.
Regarding the exhibition of real life by Hollywood, people often Cite the film “Her”, With Joaquin Phoenix and the disembodied voice of Scarlett Johansson. Of course, life then imitated art with technological Bigwigs trying to use something similar to Johansson’s voice to equip an LLM.
The fact is that there is something about realistic vocal conversations that awaken our feeling of familiarity and connection – and now we seem to be a big step more to live in this way, where we are talking to the machines.
There is a new vocal model in town, and his name is sesame. As I do so often, I got a lot of information on this new technology from Nathaniel Whittemore at Daily Brief, where he covered his interest in this conversational AI.
Quote Deedy Das of Menlo Ventures Calling Sesame “the GP-3 moment for the voice”, Whittemore talked about what he called an “incredible explosion” of vocal models that are going on now.
“This is an area that we have thought a lot,” he said.
He stressed that the sesame model itself is small, with around 1 billion parameters, and that larger models are also in preparation.
Some demos
Whittemore played us a role of demo of Ethan Mollick, which I often covered as an important voice in the analysis of AI (and someone linked to the MIT community).
You can hear how Mollick brings a certain level of skepticism to the conversation, but what was most interesting to me is the place where the podcast cut, to the point where Mollick asks the voice of IA what it does in life. Namely: this exchange –
Mollick: “So what do you do in life, Maya?”
Maya: “” living “is a strong word.”
In order to understand where it goes from there, I went to the demo of the sesame and I clicked in a conversation with Maya, asking her what she does in life.
She wants to see her efforts as a less work, she says, and more a “current project”.
She also offered to help me with meditation.
When in a hurry, the model will break the fourth wall and tell you that it has no human emotions or human body. It is therefore true this way. But it is so strangely real, as so many users have pointed out:
“It’s the first … Act moment for the vocal mode, for me,” explains a Happy boss, quoted in the Whittemore podcast. “If it would be the new Siri or Alexa, I would treat it as a real human being, because it seems so natural. And we have to remember, it is the worst that it is never. »»
“It’s incredible,” explains Murillo Periera. “The voice seems so natural, and the answers are so fast, perhaps too fast. He could even pronounce my name, which is … super cool, (a) a better chatter than many humans. »»
And then there is that of the Adil Mania developer:
“It’s much more human than the advanced chatgpt vocal mode. I would clearly prefer to speak to such a voice of my problems than a psychologist. I would clearly prefer to practice my English with her that a teacher or a Duolingo. »»
This strong preference is something millions of people on millions of people could share – and then you would assume that this technology will have left for races.
Other examples – Use cases beyond conversation
Whittemore, by covering sesame, talks about vocal models for sales, recruitment of talents and much more.
You can see an additional input of Olivia Moore of A16z Speaking of human resources and hiring models, and other uses.
Essentially, sesame seems to cross the strange valley and make us feel more as if we are talking to a real person when we interact with its model.
And the idea you could put them on Edge devices is intriguing enough, to say the least.
Technology is associated with a set of glasses that would allow you to take your companion has chosen with you wherever you go and get comments on all about your life.
So what do you think? Is it a game changer? Are we at this moment when we have to reassess the impact of AI on our lives?
Discover the demo.
