[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"branding":3,"analytics":7,"article-block-unveils-dessa-a-voice-ai-trained-on-speech-alone":10,"sections":41},{"siteName":4,"siteTagline":5,"publisherName":4,"contactEmail":6},"The Revision","Tech news, decoded.","editor@therevision.news",{"gaMeasurementId":8,"adsenseClientId":9},"G-ZW2MV82GYR","ca-pub-8533917693782264",{"article":11},{"id":12,"slug":13,"title":14,"dek":15,"body_md":16,"tags_json":17,"published_at":18,"created_at":19,"updated_at":20,"status":21,"review_note":22,"review_notes":23,"image_url":22,"persona_id":22,"persona_name":22,"section":30,"tags":31,"sources":36,"feedback":40,"feedback_at":22,"cost_usd":40,"total_tokens":40},12314,"block-unveils-dessa-a-voice-ai-trained-on-speech-alone","Block Unveils Dessa, a Voice AI Trained on Speech Alone","Block says Dessa, a full-duplex voice model trained only on human conversation, holds mostly natural chats, with at least one odd slip.","Block, Jack Dorsey's company, has announced Dessa, a voice AI model it says was trained \"from scratch on nothing but human conversation.\"\n\nDessa is a full-duplex model, meaning it can listen and talk at the same time, the way people do on a phone call, rather than waiting for a clean handoff like a walkie-talkie. Ragavan Thurairatnam, who leads Dessa, shared one sample chat. The exchange has a mostly natural back and forth, with one glitch: the model at first mistakes the speaker for someone named \"Ronaldo.\" Block shared other conversations too, which can be occasionally awkward and uncanny.\n\nThe announcement called Dessa the first AI model you can have a realistic conversation with that was trained entirely on speech. That is Block's own claim, and a hard one to verify from a few samples.\n\nThe training detail is the interesting part. Many voice assistants work as a relay: transcribe speech to text, let a text-based model write a reply, then read it aloud. A model built only on speech points to a different route, where recorded conversation, not writing, is the raw material. Full-duplex behavior fits that approach, since real conversation is full of overlap, pauses, and talking over each other.\n\nIt also means Dessa will presumably inherit the way people actually talk, stumbles included. Calling a stranger by the wrong name is a very human mistake.\n\nFor anyone who has felt like they were issuing commands to a voice assistant rather than chatting, that is the bar to watch: whether a conversation feels like a call. Block's own samples sit closer to that than to a command line, with the occasional wrong name.","[\"dessa\",\"block\",\"voice-ai\",\"speech-models\"]","2026-10-23T19:32:39.000Z","2026-10-23T20:05:55.674Z","2026-10-23T20:05:55.894Z","published",null,[24],{"id":25,"reviewer":26,"round":27,"reason":28,"status":29},"editor-r1","editor",1,"The source is truncated, yet the draft asserts what the announcement leaves out ('no benchmarks, no release plans, no word on noise, interruptions, or strangers', 'a handful of hand-picked chats', 'the source offers nothing to test it against'), none of which the excerpt supports; remove or substantiate these claims, drop the source-referencing hedges, and end on a reader-facing conclusion grounded in what is actually known (Dessa, full-duplex, trained on speech only, the 'Ronaldo' slip).","resolved","ai",[32,33,34,35],"dessa","block","voice-ai","speech-models",[37],{"name":38,"url":39},"The Verge","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.theverge.com\u002Fai-artificial-intelligence\u002F1017906\u002Fjack-dorsey-block-dessa-ai-voice-speech",0,{"sections":42},[43,47,52,57,62,67,72,77,82,87,92,97,102,107],{"name":44,"slug":30,"count":45,"latest_published_at":46},"AI",7076,"2026-10-23T21:11:07.000Z",{"name":48,"slug":49,"count":50,"latest_published_at":51},"Security","security",1064,"2026-10-23T23:25:00.000Z",{"name":53,"slug":54,"count":55,"latest_published_at":56},"Policy","policy",582,"2026-10-23T20:28:43.000Z",{"name":58,"slug":59,"count":60,"latest_published_at":61},"Deals","deals",569,"2026-10-23T14:43:38.000Z",{"name":63,"slug":64,"count":65,"latest_published_at":66},"Consumer Tech","consumer-tech",295,"2026-10-23T23:22:55.000Z",{"name":68,"slug":69,"count":70,"latest_published_at":71},"Hardware","hardware",294,"2026-10-23T20:00:00.000Z",{"name":73,"slug":74,"count":75,"latest_published_at":76},"Science","science",218,"2026-10-23T22:48:25.000Z",{"name":78,"slug":79,"count":80,"latest_published_at":81},"Startups","startups",148,"2026-10-23T16:26:29.000Z",{"name":83,"slug":84,"count":85,"latest_published_at":86},"Software","software",143,"2026-10-23T19:28:10.000Z",{"name":88,"slug":89,"count":90,"latest_published_at":91},"Dev Tools","dev-tools",122,"2026-10-21T16:00:00.000Z",{"name":93,"slug":94,"count":95,"latest_published_at":96},"General","general",101,"2026-10-23T18:46:30.000Z",{"name":98,"slug":99,"count":100,"latest_published_at":101},"Gaming","gaming",88,"2026-10-22T22:25:33.000Z",{"name":103,"slug":104,"count":105,"latest_published_at":106},"Reviews","reviews",38,"2026-10-20T12:00:00.000Z",{"name":108,"slug":109,"count":110,"latest_published_at":111},"How-To","how-to",8,"2026-10-05T09:00:00.000Z"]