Technology and Scienceupdated 1h ago2 min read
Block Unveils Dessa Voice AI Trained On Human Speech, Runs Locally On MacBook Pro
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Dessa is trained exclusively on human conversations with no text data. It runs locally on a MacBook Pro (M4 Max) without cloud processing.
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Dessa sounds human
Block unveiled Dessa, a voice AI model that it says was trained entirely on human speech rather than text, and the company demonstrated conversations in which the system can listen while speaking. Jack Dorsey wrote on X, "Talking to it feels like talking to a person… full of emotion, nuances, pauses, and a natural cadence," as Dessa laughs mid-sentence in one demonstration. Block said Dessa processes audio directly, and it can handle interruptions, laughter, and changes in tone during a conversation.
Block also said it trained Dessa from scratch using a single Nvidia GB200 NVL72 computing system, and it claims the model is compact enough to run locally on a MacBook Pro equipped with an M4 Max chip or higher. For now, Block kept Dessa as a research preview rather than a publicly available product, while it offered early access to a small group of AI security researchers.
Awe and fraud fears
User X Alexander Hoffsaid he had never "heard something artificial that sounded so… human," while user Hesamation described Dessa as "pure science fiction." Filmmaker Justine Bateman questioned why AI voices should sound human, arguing they could be used to deceive people, and she wrote, "That way they can fool people into lowering their guard." Journalist Shiv Aroor voiced similar fraud concerns, writing, "Phishing calls are about to reach a pandemic level."
Block’s announcement and demonstrations also drew attention for their full-duplex behavior, and the company said Dessa can listen and talk at the same time, like in a phone call. Block’s critics and security-focused commenters centered on the same capability, because a convincing voice could make automated calls harder to distinguish from humans.
Local run, limited access
Block said Dessa can run locally on a MacBook Pro with an M4 Max chip or higher, and it framed that as a way to keep the model available on consumer hardware. Block also said it is offering early access to a small group of AI security researchers, while it has not disclosed the model’s size, benchmark results, or a public release date. Ragavan Thurairatnam, head of the Dessa team, posted a video on X showing an intern playing a guessing game with the model, and the clip includes the game’s first-try mix-up.
“Imagine being in intense pain while a voice AI has no idea and keeps going without registering it.”
Block’s lab described its approach as "trained from scratch exclusively with human conversations," and it said the project is intended to improve human AI understanding and address safety issues. Block’s stated safety goal focused on emotion in voice, and the project team posed the problem: "Imagine being in intense pain while a voice AI has no idea and keeps going without registering it."