Scribe v3 by ElevenLabs

Product Introduction

1. Definition: Scribe v3 by ElevenLabs is a state-of-the-art, high-accuracy speech-to-text (STT) and automatic speech recognition (ASR) model designed for developers, enterprises, and applications processing recorded or real-time audio streams. It operates across 102 languages and includes Scribe v3 Live, a low-latency variant tailored for real-time conversational AI applications and voice agents.
2. Core Value Proposition: Scribe v3 exists to eliminate the downstream costs and inefficiencies of inaccurate transcriptions caused by background noise, overlapping speech (crosstalk), accents, and rapid language-switching. By achieving 27% fewer word error rates (WER) than its predecessor (Scribe v2) and 43% fewer semantic errors in its live variant, it provides developers and enterprises with highly accurate multi-speaker transcripts, precise diarization, and robust context-aware turn detection for voice-driven software.

Main Features

1. Advanced Speaker Diarization and Turn Detection: Scribe v3 accurately identifies and labels up to 32 distinct speakers, reducing diarization errors by 17% on multi-speaker recordings compared to Scribe v2. Scribe v3 Live introduces realtime speaker diarization with a 3.1% error rate and leverages conversational context alongside audio cues to execute intelligent turn detection, preventing voice agents from cutting off users who pause mid-sentence.
2. Extensive Customization and Term Boosting: The model supports keyterm prompting for up to 1,000 custom domain-specific terms (such as brand names, medical jargon, or acronyms) and features a keyterm library capable of scaling to thousands of terms for larger vocabularies. Additionally, it processes plain-English transcript edit rules (e.g., formatting dates as YYYY-MM-DD) and provides granular controls over number formatting (digits versus spelled-out words).
3. Enterprise-Grade Security and Multilingual Performance: Built for deployment across 102 languages with specialized multilingual modes for mid-sentence language switching, Scribe v3 ensures strict compliance through SOC 2, ISO 27001, and PCI DSS Level 1 frameworks. It is HIPAA-eligible via a Business Associate Agreement, supports Zero Retention Mode for immediate audio and text deletion, and offers isolated deployment environments in the US, EU, India, and Singapore.

Problems Solved

1. Pain Point: Real-world audio degradation—such as overlapping conversations in crowded meeting rooms, ambiguous number and postcode parsing in customer support calls, and high word error rates in non-English or heavily accented speech—frequently corrupts downstream analytics, meeting notes, and voice agent execution.
2. Target Audience: Conversational AI Engineers, Voice Agent Developers, Contact Center Operations Managers, Clinical Documentation Specialists, Enterprise Product Managers, and Software Architects building productivity or transcription applications.
3. Use Cases: Automated meeting and note-taking platforms, real-time voice bots for telecommunications and utility providers (e.g., automated postcode and house number verification), medical transcription and clinical documentation pipelines, customer support call analytics, and broadcast archiving across decades of multi-language media.

Unique Advantages

1. Strengths & Limitations (Pros & Cons):
   • Strengths: Exceptional accuracy improvements (27% fewer word errors in batch, 43% fewer semantic errors in streaming); sub-150ms latency for Scribe v3 Live; robust diarization in multi-speaker environments; extensive compliance features including HIPAA-eligibility and Zero Retention Mode; simple integration via ElevenAPI using a single model ID change (scribe_v3 or scribe_v3_live).
   • Limitations: Processing performance relies heavily on proper API configuration and network conditions for live streaming; highly customized vocabularies require explicit setup via keyterm prompting or libraries to maximize accuracy on ultra-niche terminology.
2. Key Alternatives & Differentiation: Compared to legacy STT solutions and generic cloud transcription APIs (such as standard open-source whisper implementations or traditional telecom ASR models), Scribe v3 provides native real-time diarization, superior turn detection contextualized by natural language understanding, and out-of-the-box optimization for multi-language code-switching. Unlike tools requiring complex custom acoustic training, ElevenLabs allows instant adaptation via plain-English formatting rules and up to 1,000 boosted keyterms out of the box.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. How do I upgrade my existing application from Scribe v2 to Scribe v3? Upgrading via ElevenAPI requires a simple one-line change to your model ID. You can switch your recorded audio processing or realtime WebSocket connections by updating the model parameter to scribe_v3 or scribe_v3_live.
2. What is the latency of Scribe v3 Live for real-time applications? Scribe v3 Live delivers ultra-low latency running under 150ms, making it ideal for real-time voice agents, conversational AI, and live captioning workflows where conversational flow must remain uninterrupted.
3. Does Scribe v3 support data residency and enterprise security requirements? Yes. Scribe v3 and Scribe v3 Live run in the US by default and offer isolated infrastructure environments in the EU, India, and Singapore. They are SOC 2, ISO 27001, and PCI DSS Level 1 compliant, HIPAA-eligible with a BAA, and support Zero Retention Mode to instantly delete audio and text upon request completion.
4. How does Scribe v3 handle specialized vocabulary like medical terms or brand names? Scribe v3 supports keyterm prompting for up to 1,000 custom terms (such as brand names or drug names) and includes a scalable keyterm library for thousands of entries, allowing the model to consult the vocabulary dynamically when a likely acoustic match is detected.