Block unveils Dessa, a speech-only AI model built for real-time laptop use

Block introduced Dessa on October 23rd, a full-duplex speech model trained from scratch on human conversation audio alone with no text training or pretrained model, led by AI researcher Ragavan Thurairatnam, who co-founded the earlier Toronto startup also named Dessa. Jack Dorsey pitched the model as a more natural way to interact with AI, and Block is opening early access to a small group of AI safety researchers. Block's demos show the intended real-time voice behavior on a laptop, testing whether a conversation-audio-only model can deliver natural voice interaction.

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 https://runtimewire.com/author/ryan-merket · Published · Updated Primary source: X https://x.com/jack/status/2113697902916751661 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 https://x.com/jack/status/2113697902916751661 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 https://www.ivey.uwo.ca/scotiabank-digital-banking-lab/canada-fintech/infrastructure-services/dessa/ , 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.… When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission https://runtimewire.com/affiliate-monetization-standards . This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.