Author: Deborah Dahl, Principal at Conversational Technologies
LF AI & Data’s Open Voice Interoperability Initiative is excited to announce the release of Version 1.0 of the Open-Floor Inter-Agent Message Specification, along with two supporting specs: Dialog Events 1.0.2 and Assistant Manifest 1.0. These open, platform-independent specifications enable intelligent conversational agents to communicate with each other and with end users and collaborate fluidly in shared conversations, no matter which platform they’re built on.
What makes this release especially impactful is its support for multi-agent collaboration, where multiple agents contribute in real-time to support a user’s goal, much like people collaborating in a meeting. The Open Floor protocols allow agents to dynamically discover one another, share capabilities, and take turns contributing, without the need for pre-configured relationships or rigid orchestrations.
Key Highlights of Version 1.0:
- Cross-platform interoperability for conversational agents using a shared “floor” metaphor to exchange messages in natural language
- New support for multi-agent collaboration, allowing several agents to participate in the same conversation, contribute based on their expertise, and coordinate seamlessly
- Assistant Manifest and Dialog Events specs provide foundational capabilities for capability discovery, event handling, and agent management
- Multi-party use cases like travel planning or patient care, where multiple domain-specific agents can collaborate dynamically with each other and with users
You can find the release details here and read the full technical paper presented at the 2025 AAAI Workshop.
What’s Next?
The project team is working on releasing example libraries and software to help developers adopt the Open Floor standards in their own systems. Future development will focus on expanding the specifications to support multimodal interaction and more sophisticated coordination between agents.
We invite developers, researchers, and organizations to get involved! Visit the Open Voice Interoperability Initiative page to learn more and contribute to building the future of interoperable AI assistants.
