Speechify is expanding its focus beyond text-to-speech with new voice detection features for its Chrome extension, including voice typing and a sidebar-based voice assistant. The rollout follows rapid improvements in speech recognition models over the past year, which have enabled a new wave of browser-based dictation and voice interfaces.
The company’s dictation tool currently supports English and automatically removes filler words and corrects errors. Early testing shows mixed performance. Speechify’s tool works reliably in Gmail and Google Docs, but struggles on platforms like WordPress. The company says it is gradually optimizing for additional sites. Accuracy also lags behind tools such as Wispr Flow, that just recently raised additional $25M, Willow, and Monologue, though Speechify claims error rates will decline as the model adapts to individual users.
Alongside dictation, Speechify is launching a conversational assistant that can summarize or explain webpage content directly from the browser sidebar. While apps like ChatGPT and Gemini offer voice features, Speechify argues that large models still emphasize chat-first interfaces. The startup believes demand is growing for AI systems built around voice as the primary interaction mode.
The assistant does not currently work in browsers with built-in sidebar AI features, but Speechify is prioritizing Chrome’s large user base. The company plans to bring voice typing and assistant features to its desktop and mobile apps and is exploring agentic capabilities such as handling phone calls or customer service interactions on behalf of users.
