Claude gets voice mode with Opus and Sonnet models and connections to Gmail, Calendar and Slack
Anthropic has expanded voice mode in Claude, previously based only on the Haiku model, to include the more powerful Opus and Sonnet. It now connects to Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack, Canva and Notion and can send an email or modify a meeting on behalf of the user through voice commands.
According to its own announcement, Anthropic has expanded voice mode in the Claude application, which had relied exclusively on the faster but less powerful Haiku model since its launch last year, to include the option to use the Opus and Sonnet models. Users can switch models mid-conversation on mobile, desktop and the web version. By default, the new mode uses the model last used in text chat and launches its fastest variant. The company said that people had been using voice mode from the start to solve “real business problems”, for which Haiku was not designed, keeping conversations fast but not always of sufficient quality.
According to Anthropic, the new mode handles longer conversations better – for example, feedback on communication style, rehearsing a sales presentation for a client or brainstorming for market research. Voice mode also connects to Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack, Canva and Notion, allowing it to reschedule a meeting, draft an email or create a document in Notion in response to a voice instruction.
The feature is available in beta to all users on all platforms, but free accounts remain limited to the Haiku model and just one connected application. Earlier beta support for multiple languages requires manual language selection; sources disagree on the number of languages – TechCrunch lists ten languages (English, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese and Spanish), while The Decoder mentions eleven languages without listing them.
According to The Decoder, Anthropic did not modify the voice model itself in this update or describe its technical foundation, so things such as handling speech interruptions have not improved. In comparison with the competition, GPT-Live from OpenAI uses full-duplex audio (speaking and listening simultaneously), while Claude and Gemini Live from Google use turn-taking, according to the same source, with Gemini Live additionally limited to smartphones. The Decoder concludes that OpenAI and Google feel more natural thanks to better speech processing, but Claude has an advantage in tool integration – it is the only one that can directly compose and send an email by voice.
Why it matters
Voice mode with more powerful models and connections to workplace tools turns Claude from a simple voice assistant into a channel for actually completing tasks – dictating emails, rescheduling meetings or creating documents without having to type. For companies considering deploying conversational AI, a key point is that, according to The Decoder, Anthropic is the only major provider (alongside OpenAI and Google) to offer direct action in connected applications, while competitors lead in the fluency and naturalness of the voice dialogue itself, according to the same source.
Two audiences, two different impacts
What this means
For individuals
Users of Claude can now use the more powerful Opus or Sonnet models in voice mode instead of just Haiku and directly assign tasks by voice connected to Gmail, Calendar, Slack, Canva or Notion – but free users remain limited to Haiku and one connected application.
For a business
Companies considering conversational AI assistants get a tool in Claude with deeper integration of workplace applications (sending emails, managing calendars) than with competing voice modes from OpenAI, which lack this integration according to The Decoder, although speech processing itself is reportedly less natural than with OpenAI and Google, according to the same source.
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Event sources
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