Block unveils human-sounding voice AI model Dessa, raising scam concerns
Briefing by News4U · First published
Jack Dorsey’s Block released Dessa, a full-duplex voice AI trained only on speech that runs locally and drew both praise and fraud warnings.
Jack Dorsey’s payments company Block unveiled Dessa, a full-duplex voice AI trained entirely on human speech that can listen while speaking and run locally on a MacBook Pro with M4 Max or better. [1] [2]
Demonstrations showed the model laughing, expressing emotion and handling interruptions without text conversion, prompting praise for its natural cadence and warnings that it could enable harder-to-detect phone scams. [1] [2]
Dessa remains a research preview; Block is offering early access to a small group of AI safety researchers and has not disclosed model size or a public release date. [1] [2]
Sources
- Block's new voice AI sounds eerily human, sparking awe and scam fears
CoinDesk · · Full text
- Block’s new voice model sounds eerily human
TechCrunch · · Full text