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Block unveils Dessa, a full-duplex voice model that runs locally on a laptop
Block's research lab released Dessa, a voice model that can talk and listen at the same time and produce laughs, pauses and cries. Block says it was trained entirely on human speech using a single NVIDIA GPU rack and can run on a MacBook M4 Max, but it is not yet publicly available.
Key points
- Dessa is a full-duplex voice model that can laugh, pause and cry.
- Block says it trained on one NVIDIA GPU rack and runs on a MacBook M4 Max.
- It is not public yet; safety researchers are testing it first.
What happened: Block, the company led by Jack Dorsey, released a voice model called Dessa from its research lab, TechCrunch reported on October 24. Dessa runs locally and can produce expressions such as laughs, pauses and cries. Dorsey wrote on X that Dessa is "the most authentic full-duplex speech model ever built."
The details: Dessa is full-duplex, meaning it can talk and listen at the same time. Block says it was trained entirely on human speech using a single NVIDIA GPU rack, and that its knowledge comes from the conversational data it was trained on rather than from a paired large language model. Block argues current voice models sound unnatural because text in their pipeline drives speech, naming ElevenLabs v4 and Fish Audio Drama 3 as models that use voice tags to control emotion. Block says emotion is built into Dessa, though TechCrunch noted it is unclear whether tags steer it. The company says Dessa can run on a consumer computer such as a MacBook M4 Max or better.
Who it affects: Block sells to small businesses, and Square already uses voice AI for ordering. TechCrunch suggested an on-device voice model could support more business and consumer experiences at lower cost.
What to watch: Dessa is not publicly accessible. Block has asked safety researchers to test it, which TechCrunch said is likely to examine whether a voice agent could deceive people. Pricing and a release date have not been disclosed.
Our take
On-device voice models could cut the cost of voice agents for customer service and ordering, but Dessa is still in safety testing.