OpenAI is doing something pretty strange, but maybe it can help someone in their time of need. In the U.S., starting on Wednesday, users can dial  1-800-CHATGPT (1-800-242-8478) to speak to a conversational AI in real-time.

OpenAI’s Chief Product Officer, Kevin Weil, announced in a live stream that the company’s mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity and is committed to accessibility.

Users in the U.S. can call the toll-free number to interact with ChatGPT as if they are speaking with a regular person. The phone service is only voice-based and not multimodal, meaning it can’t interpret images or read texts. However, you should be able to ask questions, get language translations, tackle various tasks, and more. OpenAI is offering 15 minutes of free calls for U.S. users, but carrier fees will still apply.

ChatGPT is also available for texting via WhatsApp. To do so, you need to add 1-800-CHATGPT as a contact in WhatsApp from anywhere worldwide. Then, you can have a back-and-forth chat with ChatGPT.

You won’t need an OpenAI account, but there is a daily usage limit. When you reach the limit, you’ll get a notification that suggests continuing the conversation through the ChatGPT app or a desktop browser.

Source: TechCrunch Via: iPhone in Canada