Google AI Releases Gemini 3.5 Transcribe: A Speech-to-Text Model Reporting 2.6% Average WER Across 85+ Languages
2.6% WER across 85+ languages. Google's Gemini 3.5 Transcribe splits streaming and batch to beat Chirp 3 on speed and cost.
Why it matters
Google ships a major speech-to-text capability upgrade with measurable benchmarks (WER, latency, cost) and a deliberate architectural choice (dual endpoints) that practitioners building voice agents need to evaluate against existing transcription stacks.
The key facts
5 to knowGemini 3.5 Transcribe released as two endpoints: streaming (sub-second, 4.0% WER, no diarization/timestamps) and batch (2.6% WER, includes diarization/timestamps, 50% lower cost)
85+ language support
70% faster finalization vs. Chirp 3
Streaming vs. batch tradeoff: speed and simplicity vs. feature richness and cost
Direct competitor to existing transcription services (Whisper, Azure Speech, AWS Transcribe)
Go to the source
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Publisher excerpt: Google has released Gemini 3.5 Transcribe, a speech-to-text model that ships as two separate endpoints rather than one. The streaming endpoint delivers sub-second transcription but drops speaker diarization and word timestamps. The batch endpoint keeps both, at half the cost. Google reports 4.0%…