Exploring AI Speech-to-Text Services with Python

This article explores different providers that offer AI speech-to-text (STT) services using Python. The providers considered in this article are OpenAI, DeepGram, and Rev AI. The comparison is based on two metrics: speed and accuracy.

Speed

The speed metric measures how long it takes for the service to respond with a transcription. OpenAI, DeepGram, and Rev AI are all efficient and provide fast responses.

Accuracy

The accuracy metric measures how well the service transcribes audio to text. OpenAI, DeepGram, and Rev AI all offer high accuracy, but OpenAI performs exceptionally well with a Word Error Rate (WER) of only 5.74%.

To use OpenAI's STT service, you need to install the OpenAI library and sign up for an account. The service is accessed by making a POST request to the OpenAI API with the audio file as input. The OpenAI library provides a simple interface for this.

Using DeepGram's STT service requires installing the DeepGram library and signing up for an account. The process involves opening the audio file in binary read mode and passing it to the library for transcription. DeepGram offers features such as better punctuation and capitalization.

Rev AI's STT service is accessed through the Rev SDK, which can be installed using pip. The transcription process is executed asynchronously, and the result is obtained by polling the server with the job ID. Rev AI provides high accuracy and efficient transcription.

After evaluating the three providers, OpenAI shows superior performance in terms of accuracy with a WER of 5.74%. However, all three providers offer reliable and efficient speech-to-text services.