Block unveils Dessa, a speech-only AI model built for real-time laptop use
Led by former Dessa co-founder Ragavan Thurairatnam, the Block research project is opening early access to a small group of AI safety researchers.
By Ryan Merket · Published · Updated
Primary source: X
Why it matters
Dessa tests whether a model trained only on conversation audio can deliver natural, real-time voice interaction on a laptop. Block's demos show the intended behavior.
Jack Dorsey introduced Dessa on October 23rd as a full-duplex speech model from Block, pitching voice as a more natural way to interact with AI. The project is led by Ragavan Thurairatnam, an AI researcher who co-founded the earlier Toronto startup named Dessa. Block says the new model was trained from scratch on human conversation audio alone, with no text training or pretrained model.…
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