GPT-Live-1.1 and Grok Voice 3.0: what's new in ChatGPT Voice and xAI's voice API

Two of the biggest AI voice products got updates within a day of each other. On October 15, 2026, OpenAI started rolling out GPT-Live-1.1, the new model behind ChatGPT Voice, along with a smaller version called GPT-Live-1.1 Quip. It brings 13 new voices and more natural accents in several languages. On October 14, xAI released Grok Voice 3.0, a speech-to-speech model for its Voice Agent API, and kept the price at $0.08 a minute. One update is for people talking to ChatGPT. The other is for businesses building phone and support agents.

This story is based on OpenAI's ChatGPT release notes, its ChatGPT Voice help page and developer community announcement, xAI's announcement and API docs, and the Artificial Analysis leaderboard, checked October 16, 2026.

The short version

• GPT-Live-1.1: rolling out to ChatGPT Voice from October 15. OpenAI says the update also covers Codex and dots. It adds better accents, 13 new voices and a wider range of short phrases while Voice searches the web.
• GPT-Live-1.1 Quip: a mini version. Per OpenAI's help page, it powers Voice on the Free and Go plans.
• API: GPT-Live-1.1 is "coming soon," with no date as of October 16. GPT-Live-1 has been in the API since September 10.
• Grok Voice 3.0: live in xAI's Voice Agent API since October 14 at $0.08 a minute, unchanged. Agents on grok-voice-latest switched automatically.
• Benchmarks: xAI's claims cite Artificial Analysis, which scores Grok Voice 3.0 at 86.9 on its Speech-to-Speech Index. GPT-Live-1.1 isn't on that leaderboard yet.

What's new in GPT-Live-1.1?

GPT-Live launched on July 8, 2026, as a "full-duplex" voice model: it can listen and speak at the same time, so interruptions feel more natural. It hands harder requests, such as web searches, to a larger model in the background. OpenAI's July post admitted that "for certain languages, the model may have a non-native accent or gaps in fluency." Version 1.1 targets that weakness.

According to OpenAI's October 15 release note, the update:

• makes accents more natural across languages
• uses a wider range of short phrases to signal when Live is searching, rather than repeating lines such as "checking…"
• adds new Live voices: "options for French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, and Mexican Spanish, plus Bubbie in English"

An announcement in OpenAI's developer forum adds that the update reaches ChatGPT, Codex and dots, is rolling out "to all users," and that the API is "coming soon."

The 13 new voices, per the ChatGPT Voice help page:

Last verified: October 16, 2026

Available voices "may vary by region and account," OpenAI says. To switch, go to Settings > Voice > Voice.

Which ChatGPT plans get GPT-Live-1.1, and how much?

OpenAI's help page says Live runs on GPT-Live-1.1 or GPT-Live-1.1 Quip "depending on your plan." Limits are per rolling 24 hours of Voice in Chat:

Last verified: October 16, 2026 (ChatGPT Voice help page). The page doesn't list Pro 500 separately. For plan prices, see our ChatGPT plans comparison.

That is a change for Go. In July, OpenAI made the full GPT-Live-1 the default for Go, Plus and Pro and gave the mini model only to Free users. Go now gets Quip. OpenAI hasn't said how Quip differs in quality.

Live doesn't support video or screen sharing; those stay in the older Advanced mode. GPT-Live hands harder questions to OpenAI's larger models, the same GPT-6 family covered in our GPT-6.1 Sol update.

What is Grok Voice 3.0?

xAI, whose site now publishes as SpaceXAI, announced Grok Voice 3.0 on October 14 and calls it "the world's most intelligent speech-to-speech model." It's aimed at developers through the Voice Agent API, and also powers Grok Bot's voice mode and voice in Tesla vehicles.

• Price: $0.08 a minute ($4.80 an hour), the same as Grok Voice 2.0, per xAI's Voice Agent API docs. Text input costs $0.004 per conversation.item.create event.
• Latency: xAI claims time to first audio under one second. It doesn't give an exact figure.
• Migration: agents on grok-voice-latest "have already been switched over automatically," xAI's post says. The API docs list the model as grok-voice-3.0, alongside grok-voice-2.0, with the same rates.
• Limits: 10 concurrent sessions per team at the base tier and 120-minute sessions, per the docs.
• Not stated: supported languages and voices.

xAI also says Starlink call centers handle about 20,000 calls a day with Grok Voice, roughly 70% without a human. That is xAI's own figure.

What do the benchmarks say?

xAI's post cites Artificial Analysis, an independent evaluator, for its main numbers (data dated October 13, 2026):

The index equally weights speech reasoning, agent performance on τ-Voice simulated support calls, blind head-to-head preference and task success. Its limits: it compares specific configurations, and GPT-Live-1.1 isn't listed yet.

On τ-Voice alone, xAI's chart shows Grok Voice 3.0 at 71.6%, behind GPT-Live-1 (Astra) at 74.5%. xAI calls that "comparable" at "40% lower latency." xAI also reports a top 74% accuracy on ServiceNow's open-source EVA-Bench.

On price, the two APIs aren't directly comparable. OpenAI charges $0.05 a minute for GPT-Live-1's "front-end voice layer," but its September 10 API post doesn't include the cost of the backend models it hands work to. xAI quotes one per-minute price. Artificial Analysis's per-task figures on Big Bench Audio, as cited by xAI, put Grok Voice 3.0 at $0.025 and GPT-Live-1 (Astra, medium) at $0.030.

Why it matters

Voice is becoming a front door to assistants, from Apple's Gemini-powered Siri to call-center agents. For ChatGPT users, the practical changes are better non-English accents and new voices, with Free and Go on a smaller model. For developers, xAI raised its claimed quality without raising its price, while OpenAI's next API voice model has no date.

What's confirmed, reported and uncertain

• Confirmed (OpenAI): the October 15 rollout of GPT-Live-1.1 and GPT-Live-1.1 Quip; the new voices and languages; plan-to-model mapping and daily limits; API "coming soon"; GPT-Live-1's $0.05-a-minute front-end API price.
• Confirmed (xAI): the October 14 launch, $0.08-a-minute pricing, automatic switch for grok-voice-latest, session limits.
• Third-party: Artificial Analysis index scores and per-task costs (as cited by xAI and shown on its leaderboard).
• Vendor-reported: τ-Voice and EVA-Bench results, sub-second latency, Starlink call volumes and resolution rate.
• Uncertain: when GPT-Live-1.1 reaches the API and at what price; how Quip compares with the full model; Pro 500 voice limits; which languages and voices Grok Voice 3.0 supports; and early user reports of voice-selection bugs on Android and iOS in OpenAI's community forum, which OpenAI hasn't addressed publicly.