SMRTR ProgrammingMay 7, 2026TechCrunch

OpenAI launches new voice intelligence features in its API

SMRTR summary

A conversation that listens, reasons, and acts in real time. That's the promise behind OpenAI's latest wave of voice tools, now available to developers through its Realtime API.

The company has launched three new features. GPT-Realtime-2 is a voice model powered by GPT-5-class reasoning, built to handle more complex user requests. GPT-Realtime-Translate offers live translation across more than 70 input languages. And GPT-Realtime-Whisper converts speech to text as conversations unfold.

"Together, the models we are launching move real-time audio from simple call-and-response toward voice interfaces that can actually do work," OpenAI said.

The tools are aimed at businesses in customer service, education, media, and beyond. But OpenAI acknowledges the potential for misuse, saying it has embedded safeguards to halt conversations that violate its harmful content guidelines.

Translate and Whisper are billed by the minute. GPT-Realtime-2 is billed by token consumption.

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