Block unveiled Dessa, a voice AI model that can listen and speak at the same time. Block says it runs on consumer hardware, but public access is not yet available.
Block says Dessa was trained entirely on human speech and can produce laughter, pauses and cries. The company says emotion is built into the model, although how that emotion is controlled remains unclear.
Speech models are typically paired with a large language model to retrieve knowledge; Block says Dessa draws its knowledge from conversational data instead. The company says the model can run locally on a MacBook M4 Max or better.
Square already uses voice AI to handle ordering, giving Block an existing business use for the technology. Local processing could lower the cost of voice services, but builders cannot yet test Dessa publicly, and Block is inviting safety researchers to evaluate it.
Without public access, builders cannot yet assess whether Dessa is suitable for their products.
Running voice AI on local hardware could reduce service costs, but those savings remain unproven.
Builders need to test whether knowledge drawn from conversational data is sufficient for their business tasks.
Written automatically by the Made in 10 Newsroom from the source above.
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