ChatGPT Voice
10 articles in series
Ten articles on the full-duplex voice era — OpenAI's GPT-Live and the gpt-realtime API (July 2026) — and how to build voice-first agents and skills: interruptions and backchannels, function calling and MCP over live voice, SIP telephony, latency budgets, translation agents, and voice-safety guardrails.
Translation Agents After GPT-Live: Where Purpose-Built Beats a Consumer Demo
GPT-Live does live translation, but its Hindi demo landed with a heavy American accent. That gap is the case for purpose-built translation voice skills on gpt-realtime-translate — here's when a demo isn't enough.
Voice Agents That Call the Phone Network: SIP and the Realtime API for Support Skills
SIP telephony turns a marketplace voice skill into a real inbound and outbound calling agent. Here's the architecture, the support use cases it unlocks, and the cautions before you dial out.
Voice + Tools + MCP: Wiring Realtime Voice Agents to Your Existing Skills
The Realtime API's remote MCP, image, and SIP support let a voice agent call the same skills your text agents use. Here's the architecture — and a wiring diagram as a list.
Full-Duplex Is the New Default: What GPT-Live Means for Voice-First Agents
OpenAI's GPT-Live makes always-listening full-duplex voice the default in ChatGPT. Here's why that resets how you design voice-first agents — and what to build on.
No Screen Share, No Video: Building Around GPT-Live's Launch Limitations
GPT-Live shipped without video or screen sharing — you fall back to legacy voice for those. Here's a route-to-X-when-Y decision list for where a custom Realtime-API skill fills the gaps.
Consumer vs API: GPT-Live Powers the App, gpt-realtime Powers Your Product
OpenAI shipped two voice things in one week. GPT-Live is the ChatGPT app; gpt-realtime is the API you build on. Here's which track to pick and why it matters.
A Voice Agent That Reasons Mid-Conversation: Building on gpt-realtime-2.1
gpt-realtime-2.1 adds configurable reasoning effort and function calling over live voice. Here's how to build an agent that plans a step, calls your function, then answers — out loud.
Designing for Interruptions and Backchannels: UX Patterns for Full-Duplex Voice Skills
GPT-Live can say 'mhmm', stay quiet while you think, and let you cut in mid-sentence. Turn that full-duplex behavior into concrete UX rules and a checklist for your own voice-agent skills.
Guardrails for Voice: Impersonation Limits, Safety, and Compliance in Voice Skills
OpenAI's GPT-Live ships predefined voices only, blocks cloning, and builds in teen safety. Translate those safeguards into a concrete publishing checklist for responsible voice skills.
The 25% Latency Cut: Why Caching and Model Choice Decide If a Voice Skill Feels Human
gpt-realtime-2.1 cut p95 voice latency by 25%+ via caching. Here's the latency budget of a voice turn, the cached-vs-fresh audio economics, and when to reach for the mini variant.