Microsoft's New AI Transcribes Audio for 10 Cents an Hour
Microsoft announced MAI-Transcribe-2 on September 3, 2026 — a speech-to-text model it says beats OpenAI, Google, and ElevenLabs on speed, accuracy, and price. It's built for developers, not a consumer app, but it's worth understanding if you rely on any tool that transcribes audio, since products built on it could show up in things you already use.
⚡ Quick facts
- Speed: Up to 10x faster than GPT-Transcribe, 7x faster than ElevenLabs Scribe v2
- Accuracy: 5.2% average word-error rate across 60 languages (FLEURS benchmark)
- Price: $0.10/hour — an introductory rate lasting only through end of 2026
- Access: Developers only, via Microsoft Foundry, MAI Playground, or OpenRouter
What it actually does
MAI-Transcribe-2 converts audio into text, with a set of features aimed at real-world use rather than just basic transcription:
- Speaker diarization — tells different speakers apart and attributes the right words to each.
- Word-level timestamps — useful for precise editing and syncing with video.
- Keyword biasing — helps it correctly recognize specialized terms and names.
- Verbatim or clean output — choose exact wording (useful for compliance) or a cleaned-up, readable version (useful for captions).
- Code-switching support — handles conversations that mix languages, like Hinglish or Spanglish, plus automatic language detection across 60 languages.
How it compares to the competition
Microsoft's own benchmarks claim MAI-Transcribe-2 is up to 10x faster than OpenAI's GPT-Transcribe, 7x faster than ElevenLabs' Scribe v2, and 5x faster than Google's Gemini 3.5 Transcribe. On accuracy, it topped the FLEURS benchmark across 60 languages with a 5.2% average word-error rate — meaning it made fewer mistakes than rival models in that test, according to Microsoft.
Pricing: cheap, but only for now
At launch, MAI-Transcribe-2 costs $0.10 per hour of audio — but this is explicitly a limited-time introductory rate running only through the end of 2026. If you're building something on it, don't assume this price is permanent.
How to actually access it
This isn't an app you download. It's available to developers through Microsoft Foundry (via Azure Speech), the MAI Playground, and OpenRouter. If you're not building software yourself, you likely won't interact with it directly — but keep an eye out for it showing up under the hood in Microsoft products like Teams captions or Word dictation.
Frequently asked questions
What is MAI-Transcribe-2?
Microsoft's new speech-to-text model, announced September 3, 2026.
Is it actually better than competitors?
By Microsoft's own benchmarks, yes — faster and more accurate than OpenAI, Google, and ElevenLabs' transcription models.
How much does it cost?
$0.10/hour of audio, a limited-time price through end of 2026.
Can I use it directly?
Only if you're a developer, via Microsoft Foundry, MAI Playground, or OpenRouter.