> So not sure this is really a new capability for people if they were willing to use Google's servers. Of course it is. Google is providing the API at their la

> So not sure this is really a new capability for people if they were willing to use Google's servers. Of course it is. Google is providing the API at their largess. One day they can decide they won't do it anymore, or they will charge you huge piles of money, or they decide they don't like something about your data and they won't process it even for all the money. Or will do it but only send back nonsense to you. It is their endpoint and they do whatever they are pleased with it. On the other hand you can take Whisper and use it on your own computer. Or rent a computer from anyone who does that kind of service. If you don't like how it performs you can refine it on your own datasets. If you have tens of thousands hours of sound files you want to convert you can just calculate what it will cost you to convert with Whisper. With google? Good luck. The difference between running Whisper on your own hardware vs using Google's endpoint is the difference between having your own car vs the mercurial rich guy not minding if skaters hold on his taillights to hitch a ride for now.