Claude voice mode now supports three models, integrates Gmail, Slack, Notion

Anthropic's voice mode update arrives weeks after OpenAI introduced new conversational models and enhanced ChatGPT's voice capabilities, signaling an intensifying race to make AI assistants more naturally usable through speech. Claude's original voice mode, launched last year, was powered solely by the Haiku model and delivered fast but shallow responses—unsuitable for the complex, sustained conversations that business users increasingly expect. By expanding to Opus and Sonnet (more capable models) and defaulting to the fastest version of a user's last-chosen model, Anthropic addresses a core limitation: users can now maintain voice conversations that require deeper reasoning and longer context. The integration with productivity apps (Gmail, Slack, Notion, Google Calendar, Canva) represents a significant functional advantage over OpenAI's voice mode, which as of the article's date cannot execute actions across external tools. This positions Claude's voice as a practical work tool rather than a conversational interface alone. However, Anthropic has not upgraded the underlying voice model itself, meaning the experience lacks improvements like better interruption handling that OpenAI's update introduced. The multilingual support, added earlier in the year and now refined with manual language selection, broadens the addressable user base beyond English-speaking markets.