OpenAI’s Advanced Voice Finally Rolls Out in EU After Regulatory Roadblocks

Key Takeaways

• OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Advanced Voice in the EU.
• The release comes a month after the feature was made available to users elsewhere.
• Facing intense regulatory scrutiny, several other AI developers have also held back features in the EU.

A month after its initial rollout, OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Advanced Voice for EU users.

While the company never confirmed the reason for the delayed European launch, several of its peers have acknowledged holding back AI features in the EU over regulatory concerns.

EU Users Gain Access to ChatGPT Advanced Voice

Leveraging advanced speech synthesis and natural language understanding, ChatGPT Advanced Voice lets users engage in more natural and human-like voice interactions with ChatGPT.

On Oct. 22, OpenAI announced the rollout, revealing that ChatGPT Plus users in the EU, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein now have access to the feature.

But why was OpenAI’s EU launch delayed in the first place?

AI Compliance Concerns

Following Advanced Voice’s initial unavailability in the EU, there was speculation that compliance concerns had stalled its release in the region.

OpenAI is not the first company to hold back AI features from the EU market.

Citing concerns over the bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple initially postponed the rollout of Apple Intelligence for EU users.

Likewise, citing regulatory uncertainty, Meta has opted not to release Meta AI and a multimodal version of its LLaMA model in the EU.

In an open letter recently penned by Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg argued that overzealous interpretations of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) risked inhibiting AI innovation in the region.

Why Did OpenAI Delay Rollout?

Some observers speculated that ChatGPT Advanced Voice’s ability to understand emotional context could violate the AI Act’s restrictions on AI-based emotion recognition systems.

However, given that the platform is now live for all European users, it is more likely that OpenAI simply needed additional time to ensure it complied with existing EU regulations like the DMA and GDPR.