Microsoft Releases AI Models for Transcription, Voice and Image Generation

By Kelly Cloonan

Microsoft unveiled three new artificial intelligence models offering speech-to-text transcription as well as voice and image generation.

The software giant said Thursday it's working to deploy the models to power its consumer and commercial products, and they are now available for its Foundry customers.

One of the new models, MAI-Transcribe-1, offers speech-to-text transcription across 25 languages. The model transcribes more than two times faster than Microsoft's existing Azure Fast offering, the company said.

The company's MAI-Voice-1 offering, meanwhile, aims to generate natural, realistic speech. Foundry users will also be able to create their own custom voice using a few seconds of audio.

Microsoft's image generation model, MAI-Image-2, is already in use across some enterprise partners including marketing and communications firm WPP, Microsoft said. The model allows users to generate images quickly with natural lighting, accurate skin tones and textures, the company said.

Microsoft has faced stumbling blocks in the race for dominance in AI. The company's Copilot chatbot, a product central to its AI strategy, hasn't won over users as a clear ChaptGPT alternative, and Wall Street has grown concerned that growth in its most important business unit, the Azure cloud-computing business, is slowing. Microsoft continues to double down on its AI efforts, with plans to invest billions globally in AI computing as demand booms.

Write to Kelly Cloonan at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-02-26 1250ET