ChatGPT comes to WhatsApp
<https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/chatgpt/chatgpt-comes-to-whatsapp-heres-how-to-message-the-ai-chatbot-for-free>

WhatsApp will allow 1-800-CHATGPT (1-800-242-8478) as a contact in WhatsApp
from anywhere in the world. This is a way to let people engage with AI even
if they're on a low-data mobile connection.

Users in the U.S. can call ChatGPT and have a voice conversation with the
AI. This uses the same technology behind Realtime API.

This is especially important for iOS because an iPhone is basically a dumb
terminal, devoid of almost all "walled-garden" functionality without
constant and forever 24/7/365 logging into Apple's Cupertino main frame
tracking servers on the Internet.

With ChatGPT on WhatsApp users will be able to ask questions like they were
talking to a human, and do so without all the web overheads of the ChatGPT
app.

It uses the same GPT-4o-mini model that comes with the free version of
ChatGPT.

Andrew wrote on Thu, 19 Dec 2024 02:31:25 -0000 (UTC) :

> ChatGPT comes to WhatsApp
> <https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/chatgpt/chatgpt-comes-to-whatsapp-heres-how-to-message-the-ai-chatbot-for-free>
>
> WhatsApp will allow 1-800-CHATGPT (1-800-242-8478) as a contact in WhatsApp
> from anywhere in the world. This is a way to let people engage with AI even
> if they're on a low-data mobile connection.
>
> Users in the U.S. can call ChatGPT and have a voice conversation with the
> AI. This uses the same technology behind Realtime API.
>
> This is especially important for iOS because an iPhone is basically a dumb
> terminal, devoid of almost all "walled-garden" functionality without
> constant and forever 24/7/365 logging into Apple's Cupertino main frame
> tracking servers on the Internet.
>
> With ChatGPT on WhatsApp users will be able to ask questions like they were
> talking to a human, and do so without all the web overheads of the ChatGPT
> app.
>
> It uses the same GPT-4o-mini model that comes with the free version of
> ChatGPT.

I had forgotten to mention that, in addition to the world-wide WhatsApp
chatgpt contact, you can also just call that same number directly using
your normal cellular connection, even if you have zero data - and the
ChatGPT AI will "talk" to you verbally.

It's the same number for cellular calls as for the WhatsApp chatgpt
connection. 1-800-CHATGPT (1-800-242-8478) but it may only work for USA and
Canadian phone numbers according to this site I just checked for details.

https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10193193-1-800-chatgpt-calling-and-messaging-chatgpt-with-your-phone

But the WhatsApp connection is said to be world wide.
It worked for me but I'm in the USA. Does it work for you in the UK?

Andrew wrote on Thu, 19 Dec 2024 11:51:00 -0000 (UTC) :

> It's the same number for cellular calls as for the WhatsApp chatgpt
> connection. 1-800-CHATGPT (1-800-242-8478) but it may only work for USA and
> Canadian phone numbers according to this site I just checked for details.

Does anyone know if there is *any* free hands-free voice-only chat-GPT?

I tested the "free" calls to 1-800-CHAT-GPT today on a variety of devices,
where it works from Google Voice and from a cellular phone where it's
completely hands free other than the initiation of the phone call itself.

However...

When I tested 1-800-CHAT-GPT today from WhatsApp (which works world wide),
it worked only via "chat" mechanisms - not via voice-dialing mechanisms;
so WhatsApp has it, but only in text (whereas phone calls are all speech).

However...

Empirically I learned you only get fifteen minutes per month for free
(per phone number) hands-free 1-800-CHAT-GPT; so therein lies the rub.

Since I'm trying to help the elderly as a volunteer in town, I asked
CHAT-GPT how to *pay* for more than fifteen minutes of completely
hands-free voice-only chat-GPT; but it didn't have any answer for me.

Does anyone know if there is *any* free hands-free voice-only chat-GPT?
--
Note that I'm technically competent so I can make a phone or tablet or PC
talk & listen after pressing microphone & speaker buttons; but they can't.