The goal of this market is to assess whether free dictation tools are ready for regular use in professional writing.

In June 2023, I will attempt dictation of a 1000-word English text, run a spell checker / grammar checker to correct errors, and then diff the text with a ground truth of the same text. If there are any remaining mistakes revealed by the diff, I will then proofread the text manually and repeat the diff until all errors are corrected. I will then repeat the same process, but typing by hand in both qwerty and dvorak. This market resolves YES if the time to get to a perfect match with the ground truth is lower by dictation than by hand typing (the faster of querty and dvorak), once time spent proofreading is included.

Please leave suggestions for realistic text and dictation engines to use in the comments. Text should include some language that dictation software usually has trouble with, such as their/there/they're and two/to/too, but be representative of professional writing. In the interest of fairness, I will attempt all dictation engines suggested (which I can use for free) and take the fastest. I will also consider use of dictation engines included in software I already use (i.e. zero marginal cost to me.) I currently use Linux in personal use and MS Office / Win10 at work.

Because resolution requires trust, I will not be betting in this market.