When ChatGPT released Advanced Voice mode in late September, Europe was left out of the excitement for regulatory reasons, but it appears the region block has now been lifted.
OpenAI quietly confirmed the rollout on Tuesday when replying to a tweet asking for updates about the EU. "Well, yes," the company said. "All Plus users in the EU, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein now have access to Advanced Voice."
Previously, European users could skirt the region block by using a VPN, TechRadar notes.
"I got a German iPhone, German as main language, German provider and I am in Germany. I never received any information about the advanced voice feature and today I just established a VPN connection to a random US-server and after an hour I restarted the app and got the new feature," a Redditor wrote last month.
Advanced Voice launched for select Plus subscribers in July and promises to provide a natural-sounding back-and-forth with the AI. In a May demo with OpenAI employees, it easily understood what they asked and responded in real-time with accurate, useful information, even if it was interrupted or the employee adjusted their query mid-sentence.
It features nine voices, but don't look for Sky, which drew the ire of Scarlett Johansson earlier this year and has since been disabled.
Advanced Voice rolled out in the UK last month, but OpenAI and other tech firms have been slower to unleash AI products in the EU, where regulations are more stringent. In August, OpenAI told Euronews Next that "Europe is a key region for us, and we're committed to working with European Institutions to offer our products here."
Access to Advanced Voice requires a ChatGPT Plus subscription, although free users get 10 minutes of access per month to test it out.