Anthropic, the AI startup behind the Claude family of models, plans to release voice-based conversational features soon, reported the Financial Times on Tuesday.
Mike Krieger, Anthropic’s CPO, said the company already has prototypes for the same and added that if Claude is autonomously operating a computer, the natural user interface is to speak to it.
To speed up the release, the company is also considering launching the feature in collaboration with companies that produce voice-based products. Furthermore, the report cited sources who revealed that Anthropic is in preliminary discussions with Amazon and Eleven Labs, a company specialising in AI-enabled voice-based tools.
A voice-based conversational AI for Claude is long overdue, given that it has been integrated for a long time on OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Recently, Elon Musk’s xAI also integrated conversational voice AI features in the Grok AI model, quickly gaining popularity, given the nature of its responses.
Voice-based functionalities for Claude are currently only made available by external providers. For instance, Hume AI, a startup that develops AI voice tools, added features that enable voice-based interactions to Claude’s Computer Use feature last year.
The report also stated that the company is working on adding a suite of features for business users. It is said to help with ‘knowledge work’ for business professionals who spend all day in meetings or in Excel or Google Docs
Anthropic will release a new feature that allows working professionals to generate reports using AI ahead of scheduled meetings, by examining their calendars.
This feature will compile reports using internal and external information about the meeting’s clients and their companies. The company has been testing the prototype, which it plans to integrate and ‘commercialise’ with Claude soon.
“Ideally, you’re a salesperson who walks into every one of those meetings as prepared as possible, but they don’t have time to do that report for every single company,” said Krieger.
Krieger also said that Anthropic’s path towards accelerating its distribution will focus on enterprise and business users rather than mass-market consumer adoption.
Last year, it was reported that Anthropic is earning most of its revenue from API services rather than paid subscriptions to the Claude models.
This is in stark contrast to its competitor, OpenAI, as it earns most of its revenue from ChatGPT subscriptions. Anthropic’s upcoming push towards business and enterprise users will likely contribute to this trend.
A few weeks ago, Anthropic announced a $3.5 billion Series E funding round, bringing its post-money valuation to $61.5 billion.
The company also announced its newest Claude 3.7 Sonnet model, which earned widespread praise for its capabilities in tasks involving generating code.
Furthermore, it also functions as a hybrid model, allowing users to choose between quick responses or ones that involve step-by-step extended reasoning.
