Talk to Ken

You can talk to Ken instead of typing. Press Talk, say what you need, and Ken answers out loud. It is the same Ken as in a typed chat: the same tools, the same approval cards and the same chat. Everything you say and every answer from Ken is in the chat as text, so you can follow along with the sound off too. Only Ken's short spoken lines, such as "Sure." or which button to click, are not written to the chat.

Talking is optional. Typing stays one click away the whole time, and Ken never speaks before you press Talk.

Where to find Talk

Talk sits next to Send in the Ken pane. To open the pane, press ⌘J (Ctrl J on Windows) on any page, or the Ask Ken button in the bottom right corner. In a narrow pane, Talk shows as its icon alone.

Talk to Ken works in English for now. Members with the Client role do not see Talk. While the workspace is out of credits, the Ken pane hides Talk, as it turns off Send.

Have a conversation

1. Press Talk. The first time, your browser asks to use your microphone. Allow it.
2. Speak. Your words show as you say them. There is nothing to hold down: when you stop, Ken sends what you said as your message.
3. Ken answers out loud in one to three short sentences, and the same answer is in the chat. While the answer gets ready, Ken may say a short word first, such as "Sure." or "Got it.", and "One sec, checking that." while it looks something up. Those lines are not saved to the chat.
4. To cut in, just talk. Ken stops speaking and listens.

Talking never cancels what Ken is working on. Words you say while Ken still works on your last message wait in the conversation under "Up next:", and go to Ken as your next message when it finishes. If Ken finishes with an approval card, the waiting words are dropped, so answer the card first. To stop the work, click Stop (below).

While you talk, the conversation takes the text box's place. It shows Ken's mark, what Ken is doing (Listening, Ken is thinking or Ken is talking) and the buttons Mute, Type instead and End. While Ken thinks or talks, Stop shows in front of them. Stop, Mute and Type instead are round icons; hover over one to see its name. Under them, a line shows your words as you speak, or a hint, such as "Say what you need. Your words show here." While Ken talks, it reads "Talk over Ken to cut in. Answers also show in the chat."

Mute stops Ken hearing you until you press Unmute. While Ken listens, the conversation reads Muted and "Ken cannot hear you. Unmute to go on." Muted time counts as quiet, so a long mute ends the conversation after 2 minutes (see Switch back to typing).

When you close the Ken pane, or Ken closes it to show you something on the page, the conversation moves to a small bar by the Ask Ken button in the bottom right corner. It stays there when you change pages, stays pressable over an open dialog, and has the same buttons, with Open chat in place of Type instead. Click the bar to open the chat again. If the conversation ends while it is in the bar, a message says why it ended, or how long it lasted, with Open chat.

Opening History or starting a New chat in the Ken pane ends the conversation, as End does. You can have one conversation at a time, across all your tabs.

Stop Ken

Click Stop while Ken thinks or talks. Ken goes quiet at once, stops what it was working on and says "Stopped." The conversation reads Ken stopped for a moment, drops what waited under "Up next:" and keeps listening.

Saying "stop" does not cancel work. A bare "stop" said while Ken talks only quiets it. If you say it while a change you approved is running, Ken says "It's still running. Click Stop to cancel it."

Approval cards take a click

When Ken needs your yes, the approval card shows as usual. Ken reads its question out loud and names the button to click, for example "Click Pause to run it, or tell me what to change." Saying yes or a button's name does not answer the card: Ken asks you to click instead, for example "To run it, click Pause on the card." To ask for a change, say it, for example "only the EU list", and it goes to Ken as a message, as if you typed it. If Ken cannot tell what you mean, it says "Sorry, I didn't catch that." and asks again.

Ken can show you where

Ask Ken where something is, and Ken can open the page, put a ring with a short label around the button you need ("Press Reconnect") and click through the steps that only open, switch or reveal something, while you watch. This works in typed chats too. When no voice conversation is on, a small bar with Stop and Open chat shows while Ken shows you.

Ken never presses a button that saves, sends, deletes, pays or connects an account. It rings it, and you press it. Changes still need your yes. A click, a key press or a scroll from you stops Ken's clicking at once. Moving the mouse does not. If Ken cannot find the button, you see "Ken could not point at that."

Switch back to typing

Press Type instead or End at any moment. Ken's voice stops, the text box comes back, and every spoken turn stays in the chat. Under the text box a line shows how long the conversation lasted, for example "Voice ended · 1m 48s". If the conversation stopped for a reason, that reason's line shows there instead (see If something goes wrong).

A conversation also ends by itself:

• After 2 minutes of quiet, when neither you nor Ken speaks: "Voice ended after 2 minutes of quiet."
• After 30 minutes: "Voice ends after 30 minutes. Press Talk to keep going."
• When the included minutes run out and voice cannot go on credits (see Minutes and credits).

Minutes and credits

Talking in the Ken pane costs the messages and the voice time, each on its own. Each message you say costs what a typed Ask Ken message costs. For the voice time, each calendar month your workspace includes conversation minutes:

Inside the included minutes, voice time costs nothing extra. A member who used their 60 minutes goes on credits, even when the workspace has minutes left.

After the included minutes, talking goes on credits without a break, as long as the workspace can pay for voice with them: about 3 credits a minute of voice time (1 credit is $0.02). The conversation then shows "About 3 credits a minute".

If voice cannot go on credits, for example because the workspace has too few credits or you reached your monthly credit limit, the conversation ends by itself when the included minutes run out. The text box comes back with "The included voice time is used up. Keep going by typing." under it. From then on, pressing Talk does not start a conversation: Talk steps aside for Voice needs credits, a link to Billing under the text box, and comes back once you follow the link. Typing works as before.

If a tab crashes or the connection is lost, Kenso settles the conversation's voice time by itself, with nothing for you to do.

Dictation, the microphone that types into a text box, does not count toward these minutes.

What Kenso keeps

Kenso keeps the text of each turn, what you say and what Ken answers, as it does for typed messages. It keeps no audio.

If something goes wrong

When voice stops, a line under the text box says why, and the chat stays as it was.