Block’s Dessa processes speech directly and can listen while speaking, but Block has not published accuracy, latency or benchmark figures. Access remains limited to safety researchers and a waitlist.

Square’s $1,999 AI kiosk converts spoken requests into orders using restaurant menus, prices and modifiers. Touchscreen ordering remains available, and voice support is limited to English and only available in the United States.

Dessa and Square’s kiosk are separate developments, with no announced integration. The kiosk uses conventional payment methods rather than voice-based authentication.

Voice commerce has faced the same obstacles for a decade, including turning spoken requests into accurate orders, verifying customer identity and completing payments without delays.

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In 2016, PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster wrote about the potential of voice-enabled payments through Amazon’s Alexa. What Alexa could not yet prove was that the device knew who was talking or could close a sale without a screen. Ten years later, accuracy, authentication and transaction speed remain central to making voice commerce work.

Block’s latest artificial intelligence research could help with part of that. On Friday (Oct. 23), Jack Dorsey’s company unveiled Dessa, a speech-to-speech AI model designed to listen and respond simultaneously. Nine days earlier, its Square business introduced an AI-powered restaurant kiosk that lets customers place orders conversationally and complete purchases.

Dessa processes sound directly instead of turning speech into text, running it through a language model and reading the answer back, Block said in its announcement of the model.

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