Is Microsoft MAI-Transcribe-1.5 Down?

VERSION BUMP (2026-06-02, Microsoft Build): MAI-Transcribe-1.5 launched in the 'seven new MAI models' wave. Vendor-published changes vs 1.0: language coverage expanded from 25 to 43; speed improved to under 15 seconds per hour of audio (from 53s); new keyword-biasing feature delivers a ~30% WER reduction on the FLEURS multilingual benchmark by applying domain terminology intelligently (context-aware, not blind keyword forcing). Microsoft claims 'best-in-class Word Error Rate across 43 languages' and #3 on the Artificial Analysis leaderboard at 2.4% WER, describing it as 'the fastest, most efficient and most cost-effective transcription model of any hyperscaler.' Now being integrated into Copilot, Teams, GitHub, and Dynamics 365 Contact Center; available through Foundry. Per-hour pricing not disclosed at launch.

Public preview in US only for MAI Playground. Foundry API works globally but you need an Azure subscription to evaluate

Competitor positioning on the site: MAI-Transcribe-1 is a backend model, not a meeting-transcription product. Do not position it as an Otter.ai competitor -- it competes with Whisper and would typically be adopted BY meeting apps, not replace them