Block’s Dessa: a full‑duplex voice model that runs locally and 'sounds human,' the company says
Block released a new voice model called Dessa that the company says is trained fully on human speech, is full‑duplex (can talk and listen at the same time), and can run locally on consumer‑grade hardware such as a MacBook M4 Max; the model is not yet publicly available and Block has invited safety researchers to test it.
Summary
AI-assisted summary of the linked sourceBlock released a new voice model called Dessa that the company says is trained fully on human speech, is full‑duplex (can talk and listen at the same time), and can run locally on consumer‑grade hardware such as a MacBook M4 Max; the model is not yet publicly available and Block has invited safety researchers to test it. Block and affiliated accounts posted conversational examples that the company and its co‑founders describe as unusually expressive — with laughs, pauses and cries — and the company claims emotion is 'built into' the model, though it is unclear whether that emotion is steered by tags.