Blogs Details

Hot weather and even hotter tech stories are already here. July brings us many exciting developments and innovations. So, let’s review them in detail.

OpenAI Makes ChatGPT’s Ultrarealistic Voice Accessible to Select Users
OpenAI began releasing the hyperrealistic speech feature of ChatGPT to a small group of paying consumers in the fall of 2024. Originally shown in May, GPT-4o stunned viewers but drew criticism for sounding Scarlett Johansson’s voice without permission. OpenAI delayed the release to increase safety by deleting her voice from the demo and then denying using it.

Premium customers may now utilize the voice feature; screen-sharing and video are not included. Unlike the existing Advanced Voice Mode, which detects emotions and uses a multimodal model for quicker, more natural responses, Four preset voices are included in the release to eliminate deepfake problems and block copyrighted audio production, thus avoiding legal issues.

Meta Pays $1.4 Billion for a Lawsuit on Facial Recognition Laws
Meta has agreed to pay Texas $1.4 billion to resolve a lawsuit claiming facial recognition software used without user permission violated state privacy rules.

The central point of the case centered on Facebook’s “Tag Suggestions” function, which utilized facial recognition technology to automatically detect and identify individuals in uploaded images. Though there were assertions the function was beneficial, it raised serious privacy issues and resulted in several court disputes. Since then, Meta has erased billions of biometric data and stopped running its facial recognition technologies.