Mastering Generative AI with OpenAI
Audio Transcription Translation
Overview of Whisper
OpenAI’s Whisper is a specialized foundation model designed for audio-to-text tasks. Unlike GPT-3.5, which processes text, or DALL·E 2, which generates images, Whisper accepts audio files as input and returns text output. It provides two main API endpoints for handling audio content:
Key Audio APIs
Note
Whisper supports transcription and translation for multiple source languages. However, its accuracy peaks when the output language is set to English.
| Endpoint | Description |
|---|---|
| audio.transcriptions | Transcribes spoken content from an uploaded audio file into English text. |
| audio.translations | Translates audio in various languages into English text. |
Audio File Size Limit
Warning
Each audio file uploaded to Whisper must not exceed 25 MB. Exceeding this limit will result in an error response from the API.
Deployment Options
Whisper is offered both as an open-source model and via the OpenAI API. Depending on your needs:
- OpenAI API: Easiest path—no infrastructure setup, automatic scaling, and straightforward billing.
- Self-hosted Whisper: Full control over compute environment, on-premises or cloud, ideal for organizations with strict data privacy requirements.
In this guide, we’ll demonstrate how to call the Whisper API through OpenAI’s managed service.
Next Steps
Let’s dive into a hands-on demo of audio transcription and translation using the OpenAI Whisper API.
Links and References
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