ChatGPT’s viral success has spawned numerous projects around it trying to tap into its potential for all sorts of scenarios. Among the most striking, we have just discovered one that was created in Spain and has very special content. It’s called Luzia.

LightIA. This is a chatbot that works similarly to what ChatGPT does, but is used from WhatsApp rather than from the web. All we have to do to “install” on the mobile is add the LuzIA contact, with whom we can start asking text questions (or even voice) so that the OpenAI conversational AI model will respond to it.

Best for: audio transcription. Of course, using a chatbot from WhatsApp is very remarkable, but the truth is that LuzIA’s most striking feature is its ability to transcribe voice messages. Simply forward one of the sounds someone sent us to our LuzIA link on WhatsApp. By doing this, this chatbot will start processing the audio for a few minutes after displaying the transcript and related text.

Works. We tested LuzIA and this unique feature works perfectly. Even if there is minor confusion in a single word, it is normal for the voice message to be perfectly transcribed. This is, of course, a very interesting option (albeit faster) for those who prefer to read messages over listening, and it also allows for something voicemails don’t: being able to search for those transcripts. When someone says something and knowing what it is about.

Basically ChatGPT and Whisper. Javier Andrés and Álvaro Martínez Higes, responsible for this product, recently joined Antonio Ortiz’s Monos Estocásticos podcast (@antonelloco-founder of Weblogs, now part of Webedia) and Matías Zavia (@matiass). There, they explained, among other things, how LuzIA works. This chatbot uses Major Language Models (LLM for Major Language Models) to work. Specifically, it uses OpenAI APIs for both ChatGPT (chat and answering questions) and Whisper (for audio recording). Sure: they stressed that they use these APIs today, but may use others in the future, for example, a hypothetical Google Bard 2.0.

AI that our mothers can use. For Andrés and Martínez, this strong result was the best way to explain what Luzia was. Just as ChatGPT and its web-based user interface make it perfect for any Internet user, its integration into WhatsApp via LuzIA manages to go one step further and facilitate access to this chat-based AI model. Ways to use ChatGPT on WhatsApp have already emerged, but with LuzIA this integration is even easier, and be perfectly prepared for chatting in Spanish or transcribing audio in that language. Of course it also speaks other languages ​​and can be used, for example, to transcribe sounds in other languages ​​and translate these texts.

free for now. Since its launch at the end of March, LuzIA is a free product that anyone in charge of LuzIA can use seamlessly on their mobile by adding their contact to WhatsApp. Its creators explained that “it’s an expensive toy because we use APIs that charge for use,” but they are funding the product with their own resources for now. According to its data, 60,000 users signed up in the first three weeks of availability (word of mouth without additional marketing actions), and LuzIA answered one million questions.

Privacy. LuzIA’s privacy policy reveals that this chatbot collects, for example, web pages or files accessed, browser version or operating system, as well as information that we enter into the chatbot. This information is used to improve the application and for “analysis and advertising purposes”, but on SoyLuzia.es they explain compliance with GDPR. The service is “for people over 18 only” – although there is no age verification at installation, for example – and the company “reserves the right to limit the number of messages in any form to ensure proper use.” and the scalability of the system.

Future. As they explained on another website with additional information about LuzIA, the future of this chatbot is also rendering and offering online consultations. In the latter case, LuzIA will therefore be able to obtain information and references to websites in real time, thus acting, for example, with ChatGPT as Bing does now.

on Xataka | I used Whisper to transcribe an interview: It’s the tool I’ve been waiting for years.