Grok Voice 3.0 launches and now runs Grok Bot's voice chat
SpaceXAI's new speech model tops an independent voice benchmark, and the company says it already powers Grok Bot's voice mode, so your next call with a Bot uses it.
Open any Bot's chat, leave the message box empty, and press the waveform button to start a voice chat: SpaceXAI says its new Grok Voice 3.0 model "also powers Grok Bot’s voice mode." The model launched at 1:04 PM ET, and @poteto, who works on Grok Bot at SpaceXSI, followed up twelve minutes later with "wow! try it in Grok Bot."
- What: a new speech-to-speech model. You talk, it talks back, with no text step in between.
- Where in Grok Bot: voice chat with one Bot, on the desktop and phone apps.
- Cost to you: nothing new announced for Grok Bot. In the developer API it's the same price as the last version.
- Headline claim: #1 on Artificial Analysis's Speech-to-Speech Index, at 86.9.
What changed#
SpaceXAI's announcement calls Grok Voice 3.0 "the world’s most intelligent speech-to-speech model" and says it "has class-leading latency at under one second." It replaces Grok Voice 2.0. The post says the model "handles millions of conversations a day in Tesla vehicles," where drivers use connectors for small requests and "Grok Bot for bigger tasks like ordering a coffee or booking dinner," all hands-free. Starlink's call centers use it for 20,000 calls a day, and SpaceXAI says about 70% of them are resolved with no human involved.
The numbers SpaceXAI cites come from Artificial Analysis, an independent benchmarking firm:
| Test (what it measures) | Grok Voice 3.0 | Grok Voice 2.0 | GPT-Live-1 (Astra, Medium) | Gemini 3.8 Live (Ext. Thinking, High) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speech-to-Speech Index (overall) | 86.9 | 81.3 | 83.2 | 82.6 |
| Big Bench Audio (reasoning by voice) | 98.5% | 97.2% | 90.1% | 97.7% |
| Task Success Rate | 94.8% | 94.6% | 87.4% | 89.1% |
| Full Duplex Bench (pauses, interruptions) | 97.0% | 95.1% | 94.9% | 91.9% |
| Tau-Voice (support calls with noise and accents) | 71.6% | 56.5% | 74.5% | 68.6% |
Source: SpaceXAI, citing Artificial Analysis testing dated Oct 13, 2026.
Why it matters#
Grok Bot's voice chat is how you talk a task through with a Bot while you drive, cook, or walk, and then let it do the work after you hang up. The biggest jumps are in the parts that make a call feel natural or useful: handling interruptions and finishing support-style tasks. The Tau-Voice score, which tests messy real-world support calls, rose from 56.5% to 71.6%.
For anyone building voice agents on the API, SpaceXAI says agents using grok-voice-latest "have already been switched over automatically, with no changes needed," at $0.08 a minute ($4.80 an hour), the same price as Grok Voice 2.0.
How to use it#
- Open the chat with one Bot. Voice chat doesn't work in group chats or with a teammate's Team Bot, per Cursor's help page.
- Leave the message box empty and choose Start voice chat, the waveform button. If it isn't there, update Grok Bot.
- Allow microphone access if asked. Use Show settings during the call to change the voice, speed, and language.
- Hang up when you're done. A Voice chat card with the full transcript lands in the Bot's chat, and the Bot may follow up there with results.
A good first test, said out loud:
Let's plan tomorrow. Ask me what's on my mind, push back if I'm overloading the day, and when we hang up, write the plan in this chat as a short checklist.
Good to know#
- Speed is a trade. Artificial Analysis measured 0.81 seconds to first audio, faster than the rival models it tested but "slower than Grok Voice 2.0 at 0.70s." If Grok Bot's voice chat ran on Grok Voice 2.0 before, replies may start a touch later; SpaceXAI hasn't said which model it used.
- Not top on every chart. On Tau-Voice, GPT-Live-1 (Astra) scored higher, at 74.5%. SpaceXAI frames Grok Voice 3.0 as "comparable" there "at 40% lower latency." On Artificial Analysis's blind preference arena it ranked third.
- No date for the switch. SpaceXAI says the model powers Grok Bot's voice mode now, but there's no Grok Bot changelog entry yet. The latest Grok Bot release listed is 0.70.2, from Oct 11.
- Calls that drop are a separate thing. If you see Voice chat failed, the help page says to dismiss it, check your connection, and start again.
What to watch#
A Grok Bot changelog line confirming the switch, whether new voices or languages arrive in voice chat settings, and whether the car and phone voice features get the same model.
