Google’s latest update on Gboard keyboard which is initially being tested on Pixel devices lets users utilize speech-to-text feature even when they are offline.
According to a blog post by Johan Schalkwyk, Google Fellow, Speech Team, users will not have to worry whether or not they are connected to the internet in order to use Gboard’s “end-to-end, all-neural, on-device speech recognizer”.
Schalkwyk stated: “This means no more network latency or spottiness — the new recognizer is always available, even when you are offline.”
“The model works at the character level, so that as you speak, it outputs words character-by-character, just as if someone was typing out what you say in real-time, and exactly as you’d expect from a keyboard dictation system,” he added.
The on-device Gboard speech recognizer is currently rolled out to Pixel phones in American English only.
The update is expected to be adopted in more languages and other devices.
(Photo source: phandroid.com/ ai.googleblog.com)
