Thoughts Brewing Blog

BizTech Q&A 47: Too many voice options?

Written by Damien Griffin | Aug 24, 2025 10:45:00 AM

Answering your questions about business and technology

Question

In ChatGPT and Perplexity, what is the difference between dictation and voice mode?
~ Joe M.

Answer

Hi Joe,

Using dictation will let you talk into a microphone and the AI chatbot will transcribe what you say.  This gives you a similar experience to typing in your question or task minus the keyboard.  The chatbot will respond with text.

Using voice mode allows you to have a back-and-forth conversation with the chatbot.  You can talk to it like you would talk to a person and it will respond like a person would (with voice).  People have told me that they use this mode because it feels much more natural and they get a lot more out of the experience.  

Try them both out and see which one you prefer.

Hope that helps get you started.

~ Damien