What you need to know
- A commit spotted on the Chromium Gerrit suggests Google's Chrome browser could get the Live Caption feature in the near future.
- Similar to Live Captions on Pixel phones, the accessibility feature will allow the Chrome browser to provide real-time captions to video content playing on your device.
- Since the feature is in the early stages of development, it could take at least a few months before "Live Caption" hits the stable channel.
One of the most impressive new software features that Google introduced with its Pixel 4 series last year was Live Caption. The accessibility feature makes it possible to caption videos, podcasts, and voice notes in real-time, without requiring an internet connection. Now, a commit spotted on the Chromium Gerrit by the folks at Chrome Unboxed suggests a similar feature could come to the Chrome browser.
The commit hinted at in the Chromium Gerrit is for SODA (speech-on-device API), which will play an essential role in enabling Live Captions on Chrome. Here's what the commit description says:
This CL creates a sandboxed service that hosts the Speech On-Device API (SODA). It contains the components required to launch the service from the renderer process, but the implementation of the service itself is stubbed out. The design document for the feature is located at: go/chrome-live-captions.
While Google hasn't officially confirmed any plans of making Live Captions available on Chrome yet, the evidence does make it quite clear that the Chrome team is indeed working on it. Currently, however, the feature is in the early stages of development. This means it may take a while before the Live Caption feature becomes available on the stable channel.
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