You join the Dessa waitlist at block.xyz/dessa by clicking "Join the waitlist". That's it. There's no app to download yet and no public release date, so the waitlist is the only way in for most people right now.
📺 Watch: Mistral Voxtral 3 Is SCARY GOOD at AI Speech!
🔥 Get the Agent OS as a free bonus: AI Profit Boardroom members get the full Agent OS zip, prompt libraries, daily tutorials and weekly live coaching calls. → Get inside
This page is the access side of things. What you can do today, what you can't, the separate route for safety researchers, and what to set up while you wait. If you want the full breakdown of how the model works, read my Dessa AI explainer first.
How to join the Dessa waitlist
Here are the steps. It takes a minute.
- Go to block.xyz/dessa.
- Click the "Join the waitlist" button. It sits at the top of the page and shows up again further down.
- Follow the form that opens.
- Wait for Block to contact you. The page says "Launch links are coming soon."
That's everything Block has published about the process. It hasn't mentioned a queue position, a referral system or a timeline. If someone online promises you a faster way in, they're guessing.
One tip. Use an email you actually check. When launch links go out, you want to see them.
If you want to get ahead on voice and AI agents while everyone else is refreshing a waitlist page, that's exactly what we do inside the AI Profit Boardroom ($69/mo). You get my Agent OS, a 30-day AI agent roadmap, daily tutorials as new tools drop, and 4 coaching calls a week.
What's available right now vs not yet
Lots of people land on the Dessa page and think they can try it straight away. You can't. Here's the real status of each piece, based only on what Block's page says.
| What | Status |
|---|---|
| Demo recordings | Live on the page now. Every clip is a live, unsteered recording of a person talking to Dessa |
| Waitlist | Open. Click "Join the waitlist" on block.xyz/dessa |
| Public app or download | Not yet. "Launch links are coming soon" |
| Safety researcher early access | A small group only. Researchers are asked to get in touch |
| Release date | Not announced |
| Price | Not announced |
| More recordings | Block says more will be shared on X soon |
So the short version: you can listen, you can sign up, and that's it for the public right now.
The safety researcher route
There's a second way in, but it's narrow. Block is giving a small group of AI safety researchers early access to find the risks the team hasn't anticipated.
Their reasoning makes sense. A model that learned to talk from sound alone is new territory, and they want outside eyes on it. The page signs off that section from Ragavan Thurairatnam, the Dessa lead, with a simple line: if that's you, get in touch.
The request form on Block's page asks for your name and an institutional email (a university, company or lab address), plus an optional Google Scholar or blog link.
If you're not a safety researcher, don't apply through this route. Join the regular waitlist.
Not sure where voice AI fits in your business yet? Book a free AI strategy session and we'll map it out with you.
What you get once you're in
Block hasn't listed plans, tiers or features for launch. So I'll stick to what the page actually states about the model.
- A realistic live conversation. Block says that as far as it knows, Dessa is the world's first AI you can have a realistic live conversation with that was trained only from human speech.
- Full-duplex talk. It listens and talks at the same time, like you do. It knows when to cut in and when to backchannel with things like "yeah!", "got it!" and "ooh".
- No awkward wait. Inference runs faster than real time.
- It hears how you feel. It natively hears and speaks emotion, sarcasm, laughter and a frustrated sigh.
- It runs locally. Block says it runs on a MacBook Pro M4 Max or better.
That last point matters for the waitlist. If you're planning to run it on your own machine, check your hardware now. An M4 Max MacBook Pro or better is the bar Block gives.
What Block doesn't say is just as useful. There's no stated parameter count, no stated licence, no stated open weights, and no mention of tool calls. It's a conversation model. As far as Block's page shows, it isn't connected to agent tools yet.
What to do while you wait
Waiting is boring. Here's how I'd use the time.
1. Listen to the demos properly
The demos are the best preview you'll get. In one, Dessa laughs mid-sentence the moment something's funny. In another, the person forgets a movie title and Dessa finishes it. There's an anniversary surprise where it gasps under its breath, a life advice clip, and one where it talks with GPT-Live-1. Block notes the developer of GPT-Live-1 isn't affiliated with Block and hasn't endorsed Dessa.
Listen with headphones. Notice the timing. That's the whole point of a full-duplex model.
2. Set up a voice agent you can use today
You don't need to wait for Dessa to start talking to AI. I run Hermes every day inside my Agent OS, and Hermes already has voice options. My Hermes voice agent guide walks you through it, and if you want a specific voice, check out Hermes Apollo voice.
The difference is simple. Dessa is a conversation model. Hermes is an agent that does work. Voice is a growing way to talk to AI agents, so getting comfortable with it now puts you ahead. If you want the full setup, the Agent OS guide shows how I run everything.
3. Get your hardware sorted
If local is the plan, the MacBook Pro M4 Max or better requirement is the one hard number on the page. Jack Dorsey posted that it's "small enough to run on your macbook". Ragavan posted on X that you can run it on consumer GPUs and called it "a GPT3 moment for speech". Block's page itself only names the MacBook spec, so plan around that.
4. Follow the right accounts
Block says more recordings will be shared on X soon. Follow along so you see new clips and launch news early. And if you're on other AI waitlists too, my Jev waitlist page covers that one.
Want help picking which AI tools to set up first while you wait? Grab a free AI strategy session.
What is Dessa, quickly
Dessa is a full-duplex speech-to-speech conversation model from a small AI research lab at Block, the company behind Square and Cash App. Block calls it "the most authentic full-duplex speech model ever built".
It was trained from scratch on nothing but human conversation audio. No text, no pretrained models. Audio in, audio out. Most voice AI turns your speech into text and throws away what text can't carry, like tone, emotion and timing. Dessa skips that step.
Block says Dessa learned language from hundreds of times fewer words than LLMs need, and it was trained on only one NVIDIA GB200 NVL72. The lab was founded by former members of Dessa, the Toronto deep learning startup. They've built deep learning models since 2012, generative speech models for over eight years, and they report directly to Jack Dorsey.
Why build it? Block gives three reasons: curiosity, better understanding between humans and AI, and safety. Their example hits home. Imagine being in serious pain while a voice AI has no idea and just keeps going.
I cover voice AI a lot on my channel, from GPT-Live-1 to Voxtral 3 to ElevenLabs. When I compare AI tools, I use real tests, which is why I built Goldie Bench. Dessa goes on the list once it's actually available.
Dessa waitlist FAQ
Where do I join the Dessa waitlist?
Go to block.xyz/dessa and click "Join the waitlist". Then follow the form. That's the only official route Block lists for the public.
When does Dessa launch?
Block hasn't announced a release date. The page says "Launch links are coming soon." Anyone giving you a specific date is guessing.
How much does Dessa cost?
No price has been announced. Block also hasn't stated a licence or whether the weights will be open.
Can I get early access?
Only if you're an AI safety researcher. Block is giving a small group early access to find risks and asks researchers to get in touch. Everyone else should join the waitlist.
If you want to use voice and AI agents in your business right now, not someday, join the AI Profit Boardroom ($69/mo). We've got 3,400+ members and we're rated 4.9 on Skool. Or if you'd rather talk it through first, book a free AI strategy session.
