# Block's Dessa speech model trained only on human conversation

> Original title: Check Out the Many Uncanny, Human-ish Voices From Block’s New AI Model

- Source: Gizmodo · AI
- Published: 2026-10-24T10:24:40.000Z
- Bad Influence: https://badinfluence.news/items/y526sfqn2wt4mpl2sw97q5paw
- Original: https://gizmodo.com/check-out-the-many-uncanny-human-ish-voices-from-blocks-new-ai-model-2000830237

## Summary

Block released Dessa, a speech-to-speech AI model trained from scratch on human conversation, which processes and generates audio directly rather than converting speech to text. The model can speak and listen at the same time, and Block says it can run locally on any MacBook Pro M4 Max or better. Block has given early access to a small group of AI safety researchers.