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Language & Translation · Recorded milestone

Near-human speech recognition

Recorded year2022

OpenAI's Whisper transcribes speech in nearly 100 languages.

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Built on

Dictation softwareRecorded · 1990enables
World Wide WebRecorded · 1991requires
AI accelerator chipsRecorded · 2016requires
Transformer architectureRecorded · 2017enables

Led to

AI-preserved languagesRecorded · 2023enables
Decoding animal communicationRecorded · 2024enables
Live voice translationRecorded · 2024enables
Vowels found in whale speechRecorded · 2025enables
Exams by conversation with an AI examinerForecast · ~2028enables
Silent speech inputForecast · ~2028enables

Sources & evidence

Additional source

Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.