Look who's talking now! Voice gets chatty.

Welcome to the latest edition of AI: Actionable Insights.

Sit back, relax and grab a brew. This edition we're talking about developments in voice, how that impacts search and what you need to consider.

We're also going to talk about a brand-new AI community and training offering we've put together in partnership with Dorset Chamber called Campfire.

"Advanced Voice", "Apple Intelligence", "CoPilot Voice" & "Gemini Live"...

Different ways the main players are labelling their advanced voice chatbot offerings - let's break them down:

OpenAI - chatGPT Advanced Voice Mode

Just over a week ago chatGPT released their improved Advance Voice mode into the UK, I was honestly blown away by it (and I also swore for the first time in a post on LinkedIn - sorry about that!).

I'd seen lots of videos, but this was still beyond what I'd expected it to feel like talking to an AI.

With the recently added Memory feature and Custom Instructions it just feels so natural that it stopped me in my tracks.

To get Advanced Voice you need to be a Plus or Enterprise customer, and upgrade to the latest version of the app.

By way of a recap - the full features of Advanced Voice were demoed back in May alongside GPT-4o and we talked about those in all things Multi-modal Edition #8.

This should start at the right point, if not jump to 4:41.

Also shown on that demo, real time access and understanding of video via the phone camera. This feature hasn't been released yet, so clearly there's more to come real soon.

Google Gemini Live

Not to be outdone, Google released their Gemini Live update for all android users - this is a step towards having a fully AI enabled smart phone that can do actions for you.

You can switch Google Assistant to Gemini Live on your phone, and by extension your Google Home setup. In theory, common features like setting alarms and timers, or controlling smart home devices like lights work as before*:

*some features are still under development.

Microsoft CoPilot Voice

Not to be outdone, Microsoft CoPilot also released CoPilot voice for all - in the app and for Windows 11 users:

We should also mention Apple have released their new iPhone and iOS18 with Apple Intelligence (powered by OpenAI) in the US, coming to the UK in December.

Arguably the 4 biggest players in the UK/US releasing very capable advance voice models, with increasing access to your devices to complete tasks as well as providing information via natural feeling conversation.

I know many were sceptical about the predictions for voice and search made some time ago, to me THIS is the reality of those predictions starting to take shape.

What does this mean for you as a business?

In the last edition, we discussed SearchGPT and AI Overviews (Google) - an increase in voice usage by consumers highlights the importance of framing content as questions for AI Optimised Content.

AI: Actionable Insight

If you have important content being picked up now as Featured Snippets, you're probably in a good place. If you don't, that's certainly something to look at - see the last edition linked above for tips on that.

Experiments with AI voice agents

Last week we launched Campfire with Dorset Chamber, a training workshop and community for businesses that want to get more from AI. (More on that below)

As part of this, I attended the Dorset Chamber business expo last week and we wanted to create a fun proof-of-concept to show the art of the possible as a talking point.

The challenge was this:

Could we have a simple web form trigger a callback from an interactive AI Agent, using a familiar voice, to answer questions and send a booking form to qualified folks?

We created a voice clone of Paul Tansey which you can speak to and ask questions, connected it using Zapier to a form, and with a bit of coaching it works.

It's not perfect, the voice API available from chatGPT is slightly slower to respond than we'd like - but it clearly shows the way this technology is advancing.

Try the AI Agent callback and let us know what you think!

As a reader of this newsletter you understand that AI is evolving at speed, bringing new challenges and opportunities – to help businesses across Dorset adapt and thrive with this change we've launched Campfire in partnership with Dorset Chamber.

Campfire is a community of like-minded folks looking to get more from AI in the workplace.

It’s a framework and roadmap for AI adoption, a set of resources and regular meetups for businesses looking to make more from AI and learn about the latest tools and techniques.

Start with our Ignite half-day AI workshop where you can learn about a simple AI adoption framework, how to develop a roadmap for piloting and using AI in your business and see real world use-cases and examples.

Then join the community to share and grow with your peers and access training, resources and regular meetups with guest speakers.

AI: Actionable Insight:

Visit the Campfire website to learn more and try the AI callback.

Upcoming talks and workshops:

On the 11th October I'm speaking at the VA Conference: “The future of VA in an AI world” – an interactive session where we address questions about AI, including the impact of it on the Virtual Assistant industry and how it might be a strategic ally. More info on the VA Conference site here.

I'm off to Romsey on the 23rd October doing an in-depth half-day AI for Small Business workshop for Test Valley Borough Council.

And on the 24th October I'll be running the first Campfire Ignite workshop with Dorset Chamber in Poole.

Thanks for reading, if you have any feedback or topics that you’d like us to cover please do let me know!

We've covered a lot in these newsletters, if you’d like more tailored help with anything we’ve covered, please do get in touch.

Until next time,

Luke