In terms of Hollywood’s exposition of real life, people often cite the movie “Her,” with Joaquin Phoenix and the disembodied voice of Scarlett Johansson. Life later imitated art with tech bigwigs trying to use something similar to Johansson’s voice to equip an LLM.

There’s a new voice model in town, and it’s called Sesame. Nathaniel Whittemore at AI Daily Brief covered interest in this conversational AI, quoting Deedy Das of Menlo Ventures calling Sesame “the GP-3 moment for voice.” The model is small, with around 1 billion parameters, and larger models are also in the works.

Some of the Demos

Whittemore played part of a demo by Ethan Mollick, a prominent AI analyst. In a notable exchange, the AI voice, Maya, answers Mollick’s question with a thought-provoking reply: “’Living’ is a strong word.” Maya emphasizes her work as an “ongoing project” and offers help with meditation.

This realistic interaction has left users impressed. One noted, “This is the first … AGI moment for AI voice mode, for me.” Another user, Murillo Periera, was astonished at the natural tone and quick replies, adding that it’s a better conversationalist than many humans.

Other Examples – Use Cases Beyond Conversation

Sesame’s applications extend to areas like sales and talent recruitment, as noted by Whittemore. Olivia Moore of a16z discussed its potential in human resources and hiring, essentially traversing the uncanny valley.

The tech is paired with glasses that allow users to interact with an AI companion wherever they go, receiving life feedback. As AI develops rapidly, having models like Sesame is groundbreaking.

AI voice models have reached a crucial milestone with Sesame, offering “voice presence” that feels incredibly human. Meet Maya and Miles, demo personas that provide realistic and engaging conversations. The future of conversational AI looks promising, with Sesame leading the charge.

Try it yourself on Sesame’s website and explore the human-like interactions it offers.