Anthropic has begun to roll out a “voice mode” for its Claude chatbot apps. - Tech Bonheur 2025 

Anthropic, the AI research company behind the Claude chatbot, has officially begun rolling out a new voice mode for its mobile app, enabling users to engage in fully spoken conversations with its AI assistant.

The feature, currently launching in English over the coming weeks, represents a major expansion of Claude’s interactivity and places it in direct competition with other AI voice assistants such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini Live, and xAI’s Grok.

The company made the announcement via its official X (formerly Twitter) account and updated documentation on its support website. According to the release, voice mode is powered by Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 4 model by default and offers users an immersive, hands-free AI interaction.

The voice mode (currently in beta) enables Claude mobile app users to experience "full spoken conversations with Claude," and will roll out in English over the next few weeks, according to Anthropic's official X account and revised documentation on the company website. At least one user on X has reported gaining access to voice mode late Tuesday. By default, it's driven by Anthropic's Sonnet 4 model of Claude.

"Voice mode … allows you to communicate with Claude and hear back through voice, making it simpler to use Claude while having your hands occupied but not your mind," a support page says. "Voice mode changes the way you work with Claude by … showing important points on-screen as Claude talks [and] allowing you to communicate with Claude and hear Claude's voice responses."

Several AI businesses, such as OpenAI, provide voice chat experiences for their own chatbots. Google, for instance, has Gemini Live, while xAI has Voice Mode for Grok. Both allow users to communicate with bots using verbal commands rather than having to type, and this makes conversations more natural and intuitive.

With Anthropic's voice flavor mode, users are able to converse about matters such as images and documents, and select from five different voice styles. Users may also toggle text and voice dynamically, and view a transcript and summary after conversations.

The feature has some constraints. Voice chats are included in normal usage limits — Anthropic tells us that 20-30 chats is what a majority of free users can manage. Further, only paid Claude users will be able to benefit from a Google Workspace connector so voice mode can pull in Google Calendar meetings and Gmail messages (Google Docs integration is only offered on Claude Enterprise plans).

Anthropic CPO Mike Krieger also verified the company was developing voice features for Claude in an early March interview with the Financial Times. The report said Anthropic was discussing opportunities with Amazon, the firm's largest investor and business partner, and voice-oriented AI startup ElevenLabs, to potentially fuel future voice features of Claude.

It's not known which of those arrangements, if any, materialized.

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This multi-tiered approach reflects wider industry dynamics in which more sophisticated features such as productivity tool integrations are a premium differentiator—Claude keeps Google Workspace connections (Calendar, Gmail) for paid subscribers only.

The cost to develop successful voice AI is high, with the sector experiencing $21.3 billion in AI-related mergers and acquisitions as firms look to buy up required technologies and talent.

Voice functionality is the entry point to deeper interoperability with the digital lives of users, with the potential to boost both user retention and willingness to pay for AI services that are able to meaningfully supplant or augment current workflows.

Anthropic's entry into voice mode comes after similar steps from its rivals, projecting the prominence voice interaction has gained in the AI assistant space.

OpenAI introduced voice mode to ChatGPT in 2023, Google introduced Gemini Live, and xAI added voice functionality to Grok, setting a trend with voice functionality now being seen as a standard feature for top AI platforms.

This competitive tension is accelerating innovation, with firms considering collaborations to level up voice functionality—Anthropic is said to have spoken to Amazon and voice specialist AI start-up ElevenLabs to serve future voice features.

The competition is not just for voice capabilities but differentiated features, where Claude offers five different voices and the capability to highlight key points on screen while talking, demonstrating how companies are looking for competitive edges.

Industry analysts expect sustained growth in this area, echoing the 2018 forecast that AI will take over customer service interactions in 5-15 years, with voice interfaces as a central part of this shift.