Microsoft AI's MAI-Transcribe-2 undercuts OpenAI, Google and ElevenLabs on price and speed

Summary

Microsoft AI released MAI-Transcribe-2, a speech recognition model it claims is faster, more accurate, and cheaper than offerings from OpenAI, Google, and ElevenLabs, priced at 10 cents per hour of audio, a 72% cut from the $0.36 charged for the first model five months ago. This move reflects Microsoft's strategy of building its own models to gradually replace OpenAI's technology, significantly reducing transcription costs for large enterprise customers.