Voice Mode Beats Text for Everyday AI Use
Ethan Mollick recommends starting with voice mode in the Gemini app or ChatGPT app and website rather than typing prompts. Voice interfaces in these tools outperform Claude's version, which Mollick rates as noticeably weaker for natural interaction.
Voice mode changes how users interact with AI by making prompts conversational and reducing friction in daily workflows. This shifts thinking from formal text commands to spoken questions that feel more like consulting an assistant than operating software.
Ethan Mollick demonstrates this approach in his newsletter One Useful Thing, where he tests voice features across multiple models to show practical daily use cases. His experiments highlight how voice lowers the barrier for consistent AI adoption among non-technical users.
Step 1: Open the Gemini app on your phone and tap the microphone icon to activate voice mode. Step 2: Speak a question or task out loud, such as asking for a meeting summary or quick research. Step 3: Review the spoken response and follow up verbally to iterate without typing. Source: https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/using-ai-right-now-a-quick-guide