# Block Unveils Dessa, a Speech Model Trained on Conversation

> Block says Dessa can run locally on a MacBook Pro M4 Max. The company has not published its size, benchmarks or model weights.

Oossa · 2026-10-29 · https://oossa.com/en/block-unveils-dessa-a-speech-model-trained-on-conversation

Block’s AI lab has released Dessa, a speech-to-speech model trained only on human conversation audio. It is described as full-duplex, meaning it can listen and speak at the same time. Block says it runs locally on a MacBook Pro M4 Max, but has not shared the model’s size, benchmark results or weights.

## The facts

- Dessa was trained only on human conversation audio.
- Block says it runs locally on a MacBook Pro M4 Max.

## Why it matters

For MacBook Pro M4 Max owners, local operation could allow speech interactions without sending audio to a remote service, though Block has not shared enough details to confirm what the model can do or how it performs.

## Sources & references

1. [Block Unveils Dessa, a Full-Duplex Speech Model Trained Only on Speech](https://www.marktechpost.com/2026/10/29/block-dessa-full-duplex-speech-model/) – MarkTechPost, 2026-10-29

Last updated: 2026-10-29