# Automatic speech recognition (ASR)

Record: term-speech-recognition · Type: term · Edition: 0.20.0 · Evidence cutoff: 2026-09-15

[Read in the atlas](https://theaiatlas.org/ideas/speech-recognition/) · [Complete evidence](https://theaiatlas.org/evidence.html#idea-speech-recognition) · [JSON](https://theaiatlas.org/records/term-speech-recognition.json) · [Pinned complete dataset](https://theaiatlas.org/editions/e74392d479c0e7da8636a7d6a0454d03510df86ffca9931eb86babd952665ca5/data.json)

Dataset pointer: `/glossary/119`. Reviewed: 2026-09-15.

> This is a curated, AI-assisted editorial atlas, not a census, affiliation classifier or independently fact-checked authority.

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## Publication dates and source age

Publication dates are unavailable.

Newest dated source: unavailable. Assessed at this edition’s evidence cutoff: 2026-09-15. 18-month boundary: 2025-03-15.

Publication age does not establish validity or a new source-reading date. Unknown dates and month/year precision remain explicit in the JSON record.

## /summary

Software that turns spoken audio into written words. A readable transcript can still contain mistakes.

Claim: claim-term-speech-recognition-1a5192ba3d7825ca26b24a72. Annotation: synthesis.

[glossary-wide-asr](https://huggingface.co/learn/audio-course/en/chapter2/asr_pipeline)

## /definition

An ASR system processes a recording and produces text, for example subtitles or a draft meeting transcript. The Hugging Face examples show that a plausible word can replace the word actually spoken.

Claim: claim-term-speech-recognition-1e4c26398ee834b2e16dc7b8. Annotation: synthesis.

[glossary-wide-asr](https://huggingface.co/learn/audio-course/en/chapter2/asr_pipeline)

## /placement

Map context: speech transcription is a capability, not a position on AI risk or development speed.

Claim: claim-term-speech-recognition-25f52a21ad9f2e54a62ed1b2. Annotation: editorial.

[glossary-wide-asr](https://huggingface.co/learn/audio-course/en/chapter2/asr_pipeline)

## /distinction

Transcribing words, identifying a speaker and translating into another language are different tasks. Check important wording against the recording.

Claim: claim-term-speech-recognition-09422ce4d5c74cb753a9bb98. Annotation: synthesis.

[glossary-wide-asr](https://huggingface.co/learn/audio-course/en/chapter2/asr_pipeline)

## Source provenance

### glossary-wide-asr

[Automatic speech recognition with a pipeline](https://huggingface.co/learn/audio-course/en/chapter2/asr_pipeline)

Hugging Face · First-hand source (primary) · Published: undated · Material last read: 2026-09-15 · Verification: read

Read scope is described in the source note.

Read the task definition and English/German transcription examples, including incorrect words. The examples illustrate the need to check a transcript; they do not establish error rates for current systems.

No archive check recorded.
