Before you begin
- Who: any user of Chat on the web.
- Where: the Chat home screen, or a conversation with an agent in Chat.
- Requires:
- a microphone and speakers or headphones, in a recent desktop browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari);
- voice conversations available to you: your organization allows them, your role grants Use Audio Transcriptions, your platform administrators have set up the speech providers, and you have voice time left in your quotas. The Voice mode button only appears when all of this is in place.
Talk to the agent
1
Start voice mode
In the chat input, select Voice mode, next to the dictation microphone. The first time, your browser asks for permission to use the microphone: allow it.
- From the Chat home screen: a new conversation opens with the agent and model selected on the home screen, and voice mode starts in it on its own.
- From a conversation: voice mode starts in that conversation.
2
Ask your question
Speak naturally. What you say appears in the conversation as you speak, and the panel shows Thinking… once you stop.
3
Listen to the answer
The panel shows The agent is answering and the answer is written in the conversation while it is read aloud.To cut the agent off, start speaking: playback stops at once. You can also select Interrupt.
4
Go on, or end the session
Ask your next question once the agent has finished. When you are done, select End, or press Esc while no other window or menu is open. The chat input comes back.
Verify the result
- In a new conversation, start voice mode and ask a short question out loud.
- Confirm that you hear the answer and that both your question and the answer appear in the conversation.
- Select End, reload the page and confirm that the conversation is listed and contains the spoken exchange.
Control the session
While voice mode is on, you cannot type in the chat input. The tools, canvas and attachments you selected in the chat input do not apply to spoken turns, and the agent answers with its own model, whatever model is selected in Chat.
Answer an approval out loud
When the agent needs your approval to run a tool, the approval card appears in the conversation and the panel shows Approval needed.- Say “yes” or “no”. The panel shows what it heard, and the agent goes on once your answer is taken. If your answer is not clear, the agent asks again.
- Or use the card. Select Approve or Reject on the card, as in a typed conversation.
How voice mode works
- Your conversation is saved as usual. Each spoken turn is stored in the conversation as text, with its sources, tools and approvals, exactly like a typed message. It appears in your conversation list and stays after you reload the page.
- Pauses. After 2 minutes without speech, the session pauses and frees the microphone: the panel shows Voice mode paused. The same happens when a session reaches its maximum length. Select Resume to go on in the same conversation.
- Network loss. If the connection drops, the panel shows Connection lost and tries again on its own, in the same conversation. When it cannot reconnect, select Resume.
- Echo. Your browser removes the agent’s voice from what your microphone hears. If the agent stops itself as if you had spoken while you were silent, use headphones.
For administrators
A user can talk to an agent out loud when all of these are in place:
The chat checks whether voice is available to a user when the conversation opens. A setting you change applies to a user after they reload the page.