Summary
- OpenAI said it unveiled next-generation voice AI models including GPT-Realtime-2, GPT-Realtime-Translate and GPT-Realtime-Whisper.
- OpenAI said it will expand its ChatGPT ad pilot to South Korea and other markets, showing ads to users on the free tier and ChatGPT Go.
- The industry sees OpenAI diversifying its business by strengthening its voice-based AI interface and advertising platform, with potential links to its AI device business.
Forecast Trend Report by Period
Next-generation voice AI models launched
Ad-supported ChatGPT to roll out in South Korea
OpenAI has unveiled a next-generation voice artificial intelligence model that can understand speech and reason in real time. The company also plans to introduce advertising for ChatGPT’s free and low-cost users in South Korea.
OpenAI on May 7 unveiled GPT-Realtime-2, a voice model with GPT-5-level reasoning designed to reflect the natural flow of human conversation. Unlike earlier AI models that required users and the AI to speak in turns, the model responds immediately when a user interrupts an answer or revises something said earlier. It can also adjust its tone to fit the situation, and developers can choose the level of reasoning depending on whether a task requires faster or more careful responses. OpenAI also introduced GPT-Realtime-Translate, a real-time voice translation model, and GPT-Realtime-Whisper, a real-time transcription model.
GPT-Realtime-Translate recognizes more than 70 languages and supports real-time translation into 13 languages. GPT-Realtime-Whisper generates text as a person speaks, making it suitable for meeting notes and captions. OpenAI said voice interfaces are evolving beyond a tool for entering commands into “real-time collaborators.”
OpenAI said on May 8 that it will soon expand its ChatGPT ad pilot, currently operating in the US, Canada and Australia, to South Korea, Japan and the UK.
The ads will be shown to users on the free tier and ChatGPT Go, a low-cost plan priced at $8 a month. They will appear as sponsored content clearly separated from ChatGPT’s answers, and users will be able to hide ads or submit feedback. The company said the system was designed so advertising does not affect ChatGPT’s responses and that user conversations and personal information are not shared with advertisers.
The industry sees the moves as part of OpenAI’s push to diversify its business by strengthening both its voice-based AI interface and its advertising platform. Voice AI technology in particular could be closely linked to the company’s planned AI device business.
Ra Hyun-jin, Hankyung.com reporter raraland@hankyung.com
Korea Economic Daily
hankyung@bloomingbit.ioThe Korea Economic Daily Global is a digital media where latest news on Korean companies, industries, and financial markets.
