Block✓

Meet Dessa, our speech model trained from scratch on human conversation. Hear it for yourself:

For the love of comedy. Watch Jibran test out jokes for his new comedian gig with Dessa. The model responds with natural variations in tone, pauses, and playful humor of its own.

For the love of the game. Watch Cara play a guessing game with Dessa. The model guesses the first one right straight away, and the second doesn’t take long either.

Come solve hard engineering problems with intelligence:

RT @Hello_World: Last week, @blocks introduced Dessa, probably the most realistic voice model you've ever heard. 80% of the world's workforce doesn't sit behind a computer to do their jobs, many of whom we serve. They are the retail workers, the restaurant workers, the plumbers, the hairdressers, the service technicians, the truck drivers, the park rangers, and the builders. For these people, conversation and verbal communication are just as important an interface, if not more so, than they are for information workers. We built Dessa because we believe in creating meaningful relationships with technology by adapting to how humans work, rather than forcing everyone to adapt to technology. Dessa is full duplex, meaning the model listens while it talks, and it's trained entirely on voice (i.e. no LLM). On top of that, it can actually run locally on your own computer and, eventually, your phone. It's currently available to researchers for testing and analysis. Check it out...

RT @jack: team is amazing

What a legit team @blocks (@jack) put behind Dessa. @RagavanThurair @RayhaneMama @carajzp @dvirzg. • RealTalk (2019): the Joe Rogan voice clone • Efficient-VDVAE • Tacotron-2, 2.3K★ Now: full-duplex speech-to-speech trained only on raw speech.

People are the edge.

I truly believe we have the best team

RT @AmritaAhuja: Exploring new approaches to speech AI, including how models can learn directly from human speech and better understand the nuance of conversation, is more relevant than ever. Proud that @blocks culture creates space for small teams like Dessa to innovate.

Calling all AI safety researchers. We’re inviting a small group to explore Dessa, our model trained on speech alone, and help us understand what it can and can’t do. We’d love to hear from you:

RT @camworboys: Meet Dessa by @Block. It continues to blow my mind. The most real AI voice I’ve experienced. Just put the sound on and listen. → trained entirely on human speech → full duplex, listens while it speaks → understands timing, emotion, laughter + pauses Congrats @RagavanThurair and team. A real breakthrough.

RT @RagavanThurair: Meet Dessa, our AI model trained from scratch on nothing but speech. We believe speech is the natural interface for technology. So we built Dessa. And we’re inviting AI safety researchers to explore Dessa. Learn more:

RT @morganmartn: Back with the crew 🫶🏼 come find us at AGNTCon

RT @TIDAL: Per the @nytimes 👀

RT @theinformation: AI agents aren't just changing how companies work. They're changing how companies are built. Leaders from @blocks, @Cloudflare and @Klaviyo joined The Information's Co-Executive Editor @amir Efrati at AI Agenda Live 2026 in San Francisco to discuss how agentic AI is reshaping company structures, accelerating development and redefining the role of employees. Read more:

A security alert rarely tells the whole story. Block uses @OpenAI to connect signals across systems and investigate threats. Our people validate every result and guide remediation. Our CISO James Nettesheim shares how:

[Field notes] from Advertising Week New York, where Lauren Copland, Block's Ecosystem Partnership Lead joined @ROKT and @eMarketer for “Beyond the Brand" session. Lauren shared how thoughtful partnerships can grow beyond an initial use case when teams stay focused on: - Building from a strong customer and business need - Using early learnings to identify where else a partner can create value - Tailoring each opportunity to the specific business, customer, and moment - Protecting trust and customer experience as partnerships scale

"For us, it’s about building useful stuff for customers.” @owenbjennings spoke with @theinformation about how we’re rethinking how we work with AI agents so our teams can focus on making the right calls for our customers. More here:

RT @kyleluvsew: being on set feels extra special in the ai era. excited about what we've got cooking to close out 2026 for @BitcoinatBlock ✨

When anyone can generate ideas, taste matters more. @brooke_h_ellis joined @FastCompany to discuss discernment, creative judgment, and deciding what’s worth making.

Block has joined the Open Secure AI Alliance, hosted by the @linuxfoundation. AI security gets stronger when people can build, test, and share defenses in the open: