OpenAI has introduced new ways to make ChatGPT more accessible, including a toll-free phone number and WhatsApp integration, allowing users to interact with the AI assistant through voice and text.

ChatGPT has also arrived on WhatsApp, where users anywhere in the world can send a message to 1-800-242-8478 to start chatting. While the service currently supports text chats, OpenAI says it’s working on letting people link their ChatGPT accounts for a more personalised experience. The feature, the team says, was developed only a few weeks ago and is still evolving.
As part of its “12 Days of OpenAI” campaign, the company introduced a toll-free number, 1-800-CHATGPT (1-800-242-8478), allowing people in the U.S. to call and chat with ChatGPT by voice. Each user gets 15 minutes of free calls per month.
The company says this is part of its efforts to make ChatGPT as accessible to users as possible.
“The mission for open AI is to make artificial generative intelligence beneficial to all of humanity and part of that is to make it as accessible as possible to as many people as we can,” according to Kevin Weil, OpenAI’s chief product officer, who was the senior vice president of product at Twitter, in a YouTube demo video.
The service works on all phones, including landlines and older models, meaning internet access isn’t needed. The feature uses OpenAI’s voice technology to handle conversations in real time.
ChatGPT has also arrived on WhatsApp, where users anywhere in the world can send a message to 1-800-242-8478 to start chatting. While the service currently supports text chats, OpenAI says it’s working on letting people link their ChatGPT accounts for a more personalised experience. The feature, the team says, was developed only a few weeks ago and is still evolving.


During a demo of ChatGPT, which is powered by OpenAI’s GPT-3, on WhatsApp, the model explains its limitations, saying, “I don’t have real-time access to the internet or the ability to pull up live news from websites like Technology Times. My knowledge only extends up until January 2022, so I can’t provide the latest updates directly. However, I can share some general trends and topics that were making waves in tech around that time, or I can help you find ways to access the latest tech news on your own.”