Facebook Messenger Tests Voice Transcription
- Monday, January 19th, 2015
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Facebook is testing out a voice transcription feature on certain accounts for its Facebook Messenger app, enabling users to dictate messages hand free and hear their received messages out loud.
Facebook have not confirmed the number of accounts who will be able to access the feature at this stage, just that it is a small-scale test of the functionality. They have also not confirmed if a wider rollout is planned, likely waiting to see how the technology is taken up during the test, and if it copes with user demands.
Earlier this year, Facebook acquired speech recognition firm Wit.ai, ostensibly to make its technology available to other developers who were using Facebook as a platform to build apps with.
At the time, there was considerable speculation that the acquisition would see speech-based controls and voice-to-text input added to Facebooks Messenger service, and these rumours now seem to be well founded.