GoKawiilBlock unveils Dessa, a locally-run full-duplex voice AI model
Block, Jack Dorsey's company, released a new voice model called Dessa from its research lab, trained entirely on human speech rather than text and runs on a single NVIDIA GPU. The model is full-duplex, meaning it can speak and listen simultaneously, and reportedly produces natural-sounding speech with laughs, pauses, and emotional cadence built directly into the audio rather than driven by text or voice tags.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
Block's approach of training directly on speech rather than converting to text could address a longstanding criticism that voice AI loses emotional nuance when language is processed as text, according to the company's blog post. If genuine, bypassing text-based pipelines could influence how future conversational AI handles tone and emotional expression, though it remains unclear how Dessa compares in broader reasoning or knowledge tasks typically handled by text-based language models paired with speech systems.
- Block released Dessa, a voice AI model trained fully on human speech data, not text.
- Dessa is full-duplex, allowing simultaneous speaking and listening, similar to OpenAI's GPT-Live.
- Block claims emotional expression is intrinsic to the model rather than driven by text-based voice tags used by competitors like ElevenLabs.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU — Block's Dessa voice model runs locally on a single NVIDIA GPU, and the RTX 4090 is a top choice for anyone wanting to experiment with local AI models like this. Its powerful compute capabilities make it well suited for running demanding speech and language models on your own machine without relying on the cloud.
See NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: techcrunch.com — Ivan Mehta, 2026-10-24
Published there as: “Block’s new voice model sounds eerily human”
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