Browser extension gave ChatGPT a voice, then OpenAI did too

What it does

Talk-to-ChatGPT was a Chrome and Edge extension that acted as a voice-and-DOM shim for the ChatGPT website. It used the browser’s speech recognition APIs to transcribe your voice into prompts, then read the bot’s replies aloud using the system’s text-to-speech engine or third-party services like ElevenLabs and Azure. Settings like voice, language, and speed were tucked into a floating menu and stored in a cookie.

The interesting bit

The author was remarkably honest about the project’s lifespan, calling it a “fun proof of concept” that would inevitably be “rendered useless” once OpenAI shipped native voice support. That day came: the README opens with a discontinuation notice, citing OpenAI’s breaking HTML changes and the upcoming official desktop apps as the causes of death.

Key highlights

• Supported custom voices via ElevenLabs API integration, plus Azure Text-To-Speech in later versions.
• Included niche quality-of-life features like skipping code blocks during readout and suppressing emoji pronunciation.
• Vocal commands (like a “pause” word) let you stop sending input without stopping the microphone.
• The author explicitly noted the extension was helpful for visually impaired users and the elderly.
• Fully client-side JavaScript running only in the context of the ChatGPT tab; no special permissions required.

Caveats

• Discontinued as of the latest README; the author will no longer maintain it against OpenAI’s frequent UI changes.
• The extension was inherently fragile because it relied on scraping ChatGPT’s HTML structure, which broke repeatedly (see the long changelog of “major issue with ChatGPT page update” fixes).
• Desktop-only Chrome and Edge; mobile browsers were unsupported because they lack the necessary speech APIs.

Verdict

Worth a look if you want to fork a pragmatic, accessibility-minded browser shim, but don’t install it expecting a working product. If you need voice ChatGPT today, OpenAI’s native apps have officially superseded it.