"processLocally" comes from the earlier iteration on this feature the TAG reviewed here: https://github.com/w3ctag/design-reviews/issues/1038
It looks like a separate TAG review wasn't requested for the recognition quality attributes being added here. Reilly Grant | Software Engineer | [email protected] | Google Chrome <https://www.google.com/chrome> On Mon, May 11, 2026 at 11:42 AM Alex Russell <[email protected]> wrote: > Hey Evan, > > It's surprising this didn't go through TAG review; if it had, I would > expect feedback of the sort that the naming is odd. E.g. `processLocally: > true` vs. `preferLocalProcessing: true` or similar. Or is the idea that > it's a hard constraint? And if so, is there an ability to feature detect > without bringing up the whole stack to find out? > > Best, > > Alex > > On Wednesday, May 6, 2026 at 10:47:53 AM UTC-7 [email protected] wrote: > >> Thanks for the quick response, Rick! >> >> Do we know of any website who wants to use this API? In general we don't >>> ship APIs that we don't have known customers for. >> >> Google Meet requires this feature to ensure that the on-device model used >> by the Web Speech API meets its strict quality requirements. >> >> It looks like this is in this PR >>> <https://github.com/WebAudio/web-speech-api/pull/186>, right? Is there >>> any reason we shouldn't wait for the PR to land before shipping? >> >> Meet wants to use this feature in M150, but hopefully the PR will land >> before then anyway! >> >> Why not? >> >> Android & ChromeOS currently do not support on-device Web Speech, so >> this quality hint won't be available on those platforms. As for the lack of >> WPT coverage, the testing infrastructure currently lacks a standardized way >> to mock the hardware-dependent capabilities and subjective behaviors of >> different on-device machine learning models. >> >> Thanks, >> Evan >> >> On Wed, May 6, 2026 at 8:02 AM Rick Byers <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> >>> >>> On Tue, May 5, 2026 at 6:48 PM Chromestatus < >>> [email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> *Contact emails* >>>> [email protected] >>>> >>>> *Explainer* >>>> >>>> https://github.com/WebAudio/web-speech-api/blob/main/explainers/quality-levels.md >>>> >>>> *Specification* >>>> https://webaudio.github.io/web-speech-api >>> >>> >>> It looks like this is in this PR >>> <https://github.com/WebAudio/web-speech-api/pull/186>, right? Is there >>> any reason we shouldn't wait for the PR to land before shipping? >>> >>> *Summary* >>>> Extends the SpeechRecognition interface by adding a quality property to >>>> SpeechRecognitionOptions. This allows developers to specify the semantic >>>> capability required for on-device recognition (via processLocally: true). >>>> The proposed quality enum supports three levels—'command', 'dictation', and >>>> 'conversation'—mapping to increasing task complexity and hardware >>>> requirements. This enables developers to determine if the local device can >>>> handle high-stakes use cases (like meeting transcription) or if they should >>>> fallback to cloud services, solving the current "black box" issue of >>>> on-device model capabilities. >>>> >>>> *Blink component* >>>> Blink>Speech >>>> <https://issues.chromium.org/issues?q=customfield1222907:%22Blink%3ESpeech%22> >>>> >>>> *Web Feature ID* >>>> speech-recognition <https://webstatus.dev/features/speech-recognition> >>>> >>>> *Motivation* >>>> While the introduction of processLocally: true was a significant step >>>> for privacy and latency, it currently treats all on-device models as >>>> functionally equivalent. In reality, on-device capabilities are highly >>>> fragmented: a lightweight model optimized for simple voice commands (e.g., >>>> "turn on the lights") is often insufficient for high-stakes use cases like >>>> video conferencing transcription or accessibility captioning, which require >>>> handling continuous speech, multiple speakers, and background noise. >>>> Because developers currently have no way to verify the semantic capability >>>> of the local model, they must blindly trust the device or default to >>>> Cloud-based recognition to guarantee a minimum user experience. This lack >>>> of transparency forces developers to bypass on-device capabilities for >>>> high-end use cases, effectively negating the privacy and bandwidth benefits >>>> of the API. There is a critical need for a mechanism that allows >>>> applications to define their required "floor" of utility (e.g., >>>> conversation-grade accuracy) to confidently utilize local processing. >>>> >>>> *Initial public proposal* >>>> https://github.com/WebAudio/web-speech-api/issues/182 >>>> >>>> *TAG review* >>>> *No information provided* >>>> >>>> *TAG review status* >>>> Issues addressed >>>> >>>> *Goals for experimentation* >>>> None >>>> >>>> *Risks* >>>> >>>> >>>> *Interoperability and Compatibility* >>>> *No information provided* >>>> >>>> *Gecko*: Positive ( >>>> https://github.com/mozilla/standards-positions/issues/1375) >>>> Neutral/positive, >>>> Firefox is launching on-device Web Speech using a single LLM model, so they >>>> won't make use of this proposed quality hint but they don't have strong >>>> objections against adding it. >>>> >>>> *WebKit*: No signal ( >>>> https://github.com/WebKit/standards-positions/issues/634) N/A, Apple >>>> doesn't have anyone actively working on the Web Speech API on the moment. >>>> >>>> *Web developers*: No signals >>>> >>> >>> Do we know of any website who wants to use this API? In general we don't >>> ship APIs that we don't have known customers for. >>> >>> >>>> >>>> *Other signals*: >>>> >>>> *WebView application risks* >>>> >>>> Does this intent deprecate or change behavior of existing APIs, such >>>> that it has potentially high risk for Android WebView-based applications? >>>> *No information provided* >>>> >>>> >>>> *Debuggability* >>>> *No information provided* >>>> >>>> *Will this feature be supported on all six Blink platforms (Windows, >>>> Mac, Linux, ChromeOS, Android, and Android WebView)?* >>>> No >>>> >>>> *Is this feature fully tested by web-platform-tests >>>> <https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/main/docs/testing/web_platform_tests.md>?* >>>> No >>> >>> >>> Why not? >>> >>> >>>> *Flag name on about://flags* >>>> *No information provided* >>>> >>>> *Finch feature name* >>>> OnDeviceWebSpeechQuality >>>> >>>> *Rollout plan* >>>> Will ship enabled for all users >>>> >>>> *Requires code in //chrome?* >>>> True >>>> >>>> *Tracking bug* >>>> https://g-issues.chromium.org/issues/476168420 >>>> >>>> *Estimated milestones* >>>> Shipping on desktop 150 >>>> >>>> *Anticipated spec changes* >>>> >>>> Open questions about a feature may be a source of future web compat or >>>> interop issues. Please list open issues (e.g. links to known github issues >>>> in the project for the feature specification) whose resolution may >>>> introduce web compat/interop risk (e.g., changing to naming or structure of >>>> the API in a non-backward-compatible way). >>>> *No information provided* >>>> >>>> *Link to entry on the Chrome Platform Status* >>>> https://chromestatus.com/feature/5136859632107520?gate=6594055733641216 >>>> >>>> *Links to previous Intent discussions* >>>> Intent to Prototype: >>>> https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/blink-dev/69694ed0.050a0220.f8796.0337.GAE%40google.com >>>> >>>> >>>> This intent message was generated by Chrome Platform Status >>>> <https://chromestatus.com>. >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "blink-dev" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>> To view this discussion visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/blink-dev/69fa73a1.050a0220.e03d3.00f0.GAE%40google.com >>>> <https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/blink-dev/69fa73a1.050a0220.e03d3.00f0.GAE%40google.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>> . >>>> >>> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "blink-dev" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/blink-dev/2128a6d5-2fb2-48a6-a8e9-6739ee6ec28dn%40chromium.org > <https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/blink-dev/2128a6d5-2fb2-48a6-a8e9-6739ee6ec28dn%40chromium.org?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "blink-dev" group. 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