ChatGPT's mobile app gets voice-based agentic features

OpenAI announced on Wednesday that it’s bringing voice-based agentic features to ChatGPT’s mobile app, allowing users to trigger workflows like drafting documents or summarizing emails using their voice.

Plus and Pro subscribers will be able to use the Work tab on their phone to create a document, draft an email, or summarize Slack messages, for instance. These subscribers can also do things like build sites, create presentations, use the cloud browser, and access other areas like finances within ChatGPT. Free and Go users, meanwhile, will get to work with plugins and connected apps.

OpenAI said ChatGPT’s voice conversations will have richer text output, and users will be able to switch between text and voice more easily. They’ll also be able to start working on a conversation on the go and resume it later on desktop.

The feature arrives as more users turn to voice to issue commands to AI assistants for complex tasks. In July, OpenAI launched its conversational model GPT-Live, and later integrated it with the desktop app to let users complete tasks in the Work tab, or build apps in the Codex tab, using their voice. This rollout brings similar capabilities to the mobile app.

Recently, Anthropic made the handoff between mobile and desktop easier and also merged its Cowork and Chat interfaces. OpenAI, by contrast, is still keeping chat and workspaces separate.

Why it matters

As both OpenAI and Anthropic push voice and mobile-to-desktop continuity, how each company structures the handoff between chat and work-oriented tools could shape which one becomes the default assistant people reach for outside a browser.