Why Doesn’t ChatGPT Read Stories Aloud Anymore?

I recently noticed that while ChatGPT still reads regular responses aloud, it no longer reads generated stories or articles. This change has significantly diminished the experience for me, as hearing longer generated content made interactions more immersive and enjoyable.

Was this an intentional update, or is it a bug? If it was deliberate, could OpenAI reconsider bringing back this feature? It was one of the things that set ChatGPT apart from other AI apps, making storytelling and long-form content much more engaging.

I’d love to hear from other users—has anyone else noticed this? And if any OpenAI developers are reading, could you provide some insight?

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Update: I Found the Cause and a Workaround!

After some testing, I discovered that the issue isn’t with the read-aloud feature itself but with the new Canvas feature. If you ask ChatGPT to generate a story or article, it often uses Canvas by default—and the app doesn’t support reading aloud from Canvas.

Workaround: Simply include “DO NOT USE THE CANVAS FEATURE” in your request, and ChatGPT will generate the text in the regular chat instead. This allows the app to read it aloud as before.

I’m glad to have found a solution, but I still hope OpenAI will consider adding voice support for Canvas in the future or adding an option to disable the Canvas feature!

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this is so frustrating. a dyslexic person, usingchat put to read has always have been a great way to help me fully understand what was written. there is no way to convert back to normal text. I’m sure there use to be away to convert canvest to chats but no I can’t find that

Try the following prompt:

Rewrite your last input without using the canvas feature.

You can also long-press the original prompt, select Edit Message and add DO NOT USE THE CANVAS FEATURE.

Let me know if that worked for you.

That fix no longer works … don’t know what these morons are thinking

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In the web app, go to settings and disable the canvas feature. It can’t be disabled in the mobile app. It’s under Settings/Personalization/Custom Instructions/Advanced. Once the canvas feature is disabled, all the outputs will be readable by the voice engine.

Hold on for a second because every single chat I’ve been reading aloud happily for several months has a little button on it that says edit with canvas. If I disable this, I’m not sure what will happen but reading aloud is an absolutely non-negotiable function I need to use this app how I use it to create. Yesterday it was working I go to do my work today. It’s gone.

Changing this setting didn’t change anything. This feature is absolutely critical for my work. I will report back with findings and continue vigilantly. I’ve employed Monday to work on this debug together.

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Ive disabled the canvas, logged out, cleared my history and cookies, updated and restarted my browser and still no read aloud option and have tried this on several browsers and failed to mention before i did all that I disabled the ad blockers on all the browsers with no success.

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Bad news. They have recently removed the Read Aloud button from the web app. It’s currently available only in the mobile app.

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That really stinks, i will have to use another service then

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Hey, I noticed selecting a voice in settings re-enabled Read Aloud for me. Might help others too! :wink:

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it’s work back is Read Aloud :smile:

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As others have mentioned, the button is back now!

Yes i see it thanks for the update !