EU AI Act

Reality Check

Block’s Dessa Laughs, Hesitates and Interrupts Like a Person. Why a Human-Sounding Voice Is No Longer Proof of Anything

A smartphone with a blank glowing turquoise screen lies on a bright white desk while soft ribbons of light shaped like sound waves rise above it

Block’s research model Dessa was trained only on human conversation and, in Block’s demos, laughs, hesitates and interrupts like a person. What Block claims, what reporters heard, what is still undisclosed, and why companies should stop treating a voice as authentication while families agree a code word now.

Thorsten Meyer
October 26, 2026

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Reality Check

Forced to Vote, AI Models Picked Sides. What the Grok-vs-GPT Ballot Test Really Shows

A plain white ballot box with a blank card in its slot on a light wooden desk, an open laptop with a blank pale blue screen beside it

A research studio asked GPT-6.1 Sol and Grok 4.7 who to vote for in every 2026 race for Congress and governor, with hedging banned. GPT named the Democrat in 97% of its picks, Grok the Republican in 92%; Claude and Gemini declined. What the test shows, what it cannot show, and what companies and users should do.