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ModelsThe Verge · AIRelayed· Jay Peters·· 3 hours ago

Block announces Dessa, a speech-to-speech AI model trained on human conversation

Jack Dorsey’s Block made an AI model that talks to you like an awkward new friend

Who
Block
What
announced Dessa, an AI model trained from scratch on human conversation

What happened

Jack Dorsey’s Block announced Dessa, an AI model trained from scratch solely on human conversation. The team describes it as a speech-to-speech model that can run locally on a MacBook Pro M4 Max “or better,” while shared demos show mostly natural exchanges with occasional awkward moments. Block plans to give a small group of AI safety researchers early access.

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See the full storyBlock Announces Dessa Speech-to-Speech AI, Plans Early Access for Safety Researchers

The story so far

Block announced Dessa, a speech-to-speech AI model, and plans to give a small group of AI safety researchers early access. The Dessa team says the model was trained from scratch solely on human conversation and can run locally on a MacBook Pro M4 Max “or better.” Block’s shared demos show mostly natural exchanges with humans, alongside occasional awkward or uncanny moments.

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