ChatGPT continues to innovate to increase its popularity and market share. During its series of end-of-year announcements, OpenAI revealed a new number to reach ChatGPT by telephone. It is also possible to communicate with ChatGPT via SMS on WhatsApp.
ChatGPT Phone
On the occasion of its “Ship-mas” event, OpenAI launched a new feature allowing you to call ChatGPT for free via the number 1-800-CHATGPT in the United States. This service is limited to 15 minutes of free use per month per phone number. Internationally, users can also send messages via WhatsApp using the same number, a feature powered by GPT-4o mini using the WhatsApp API.
The implementation is built on OpenAI’s Realtime API and aims to simplify access to AI, providing a cost-effective way to test ChatGPT through familiar channels. OpenAI sees this feature as a great stepping stone for new users, while encouraging those looking for more advanced options to use regular ChatGPT accounts.
Unlike Google, which used a similar service (GOOG-411) between 2007 and 2010 to improve its voice recognition, OpenAI claims not to exploit these calls to train its models. The stated goal remains to improve accessibility and encourage exploration of AI.
As a reminder, since the release of iOS 18.2, ChatGPT has been available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on iPhone thanks to Apple Intelligence. Simply swipe up from the bottom of the home screen to interact with it. However, as you probably already know, you will have to wait until April 2025 to take advantage of this functionality in France.Download the free app ChatGPT
