{"schema":"postcutoff/event@1","as_of":"2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-07-28-openai-gpt-transcribe-whisper-deprecation/","md":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-07-28-openai-gpt-transcribe-whisper-deprecation/index.md","disclosure":{"written_by":"AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code)","editor":"human editor","policy":"https://postcutoff.com/about/"},"license":null,"id":"2026-07-28-openai-gpt-transcribe-whisper-deprecation","date":"2026-07-28","date_precision":"day","short_title":"OpenAI releases GPT-Transcribe and GPT-Live-Transcribe, then deprecates Whisper API","deck":null,"takeaway":"On 2026-07-28 OpenAI released gpt-transcribe (file transcription, $0.0045/min) and gpt-live-transcribe (low-latency streaming, $0.017/min), both accepting context, keyword and language hints.","category":"model-release","category_label":"Model releases","importance":3,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":[{"n":1,"title":"OpenAI API changelog","url":"https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/changelog","type":"docs","group":"primary","domain":"developers.openai.com"},{"n":2,"title":"OpenAI deprecations","url":"https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/deprecations","type":"docs","group":"primary","domain":"developers.openai.com"},{"n":3,"title":"gpt-transcribe model page","url":"https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/models/gpt-transcribe","type":"docs","group":"primary","domain":"developers.openai.com"},{"n":4,"title":"The Decoder - GPT Transcribe improves but can't catch ElevenLabs, Google or Mistral","url":"https://the-decoder.com/gpt-transcribe-improves-on-its-predecessor-but-cant-catch-elevenlabs-google-or-mistral-on-error-rates/","type":"press","group":"press","domain":"the-decoder.com"},{"n":5,"title":"Artificial Analysis - GPT Live Transcribe","url":"https://artificialanalysis.ai/speech-to-text/models/openai-gpt-live-transcribe","type":"discussion","group":"reactions","domain":"artificialanalysis.ai"}],"official":3,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-09-29","orgs":["OpenAI"],"title":"OpenAI releases GPT-Transcribe and GPT-Live-Transcribe, then deprecates Whisper API","summary":"On 2026-07-28 OpenAI released gpt-transcribe (file transcription, $0.0045/min) and gpt-live-transcribe (low-latency streaming, $0.017/min), both accepting context, keyword and language hints. On 2026-08-26 it deprecated whisper-1 and the gpt-4o(-mini)-transcribe(-diarize) models, with shutdown on 2027-02-26, ending the API life of the model that popularised open speech recognition.","key_facts":["gpt-transcribe: $0.0045/min, 25% cheaper than whisper-1 / gpt-4o-transcribe ($0.006/min)","Artificial Analysis WER 3.31% for gpt-transcribe, ~0.7 points better than gpt-4o-transcribe but behind ElevenLabs, Google and Mistral (The Decoder)","OpenAI-reported Common Voice (22 languages) WER: 40.37% whisper-1 vs 19.27% gpt-transcribe (press)","Deprecation announced 2026-08-26; shutdown 2027-02-26 for whisper-1, gpt-4o-transcribe, gpt-4o-mini-transcribe, gpt-4o-transcribe-diarize"],"key_numbers":[],"tags":["speech","transcription","asr","whisper","api","deprecation"],"science":null,"body_md":"## What happened\n\nOpenAI replaced its whole speech-to-text lineup with a file model and a streaming model under the new \"GPT Transcribe\"\nname, then scheduled Whisper's API retirement. The open-source Whisper weights remain available.\n\n## Why it matters\n\nSpeech-to-text became a price war (OpenAI $0.0045/min vs Google Gemini 3.5 Transcribe, launched a month later) in which\nOpenAI is no longer the accuracy leader on independent WER benchmarks.\n\nBenchmark numbers are from secondary sources, not read on an OpenAI page.","disputed":[],"related":[{"id":"2026-05-07-openai-gpt-realtime-2-translate-whisper","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-05-07-openai-gpt-realtime-2-translate-whisper/","date":"2026-05-07","date_precision":"day","short_title":"OpenAI releases GPT-Realtime-2, GPT-Realtime-Translate and GPT-Realtime-Whisper","deck":null,"takeaway":"Reasoning moved into the low-latency voice loop instead of being bolted on via a separate text model, and live translation became a standalone API product, a month before Google's Gemini 3.5 Live Translate.","category":"model-release","category_label":"Model releases","importance":3,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":7,"official":5,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-09-29","orgs":["OpenAI"]}],"people":[],"posts":[],"videos":[],"models":[{"id":"gpt-live-transcribe","name":"GPT-Live-Transcribe","url":"https://postcutoff.com/m/gpt-live-transcribe/"},{"id":"gpt-transcribe","name":"GPT-Transcribe","url":"https://postcutoff.com/m/gpt-transcribe/"}],"changes":[{"date":"2026-09-29","type":"filed","text":"Created"}],"provenance":{"agents":[{"model":"Claude Opus 5.5","maker":"Anthropic","tool":"Claude Code"}],"filed":"2026-09-29","run":null,"sources_read":null,"updated":"2026-09-29","human_review":null,"version":{"date":"2026-10-04"}},"gaps":[{"model_id":"gpt-6-astra","name":"GPT-6 Astra","cutoff":"2026-04","days_after":89,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"claude-opus-5-5","name":"Claude Opus 5.5","cutoff":"2026-06","days_after":28,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"gemini-4-hydrogen","name":"Gemini 4 Hydrogen","cutoff":"2026-03","days_after":119,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"grok-4-7","name":"Grok 4.7","cutoff":"2026-05","days_after":58,"in_training_data":false}],"short_url":null}