Braina is a

virtual assistant A virtual assistant (VA) is a software agent that can perform a range of tasks or services for a user based on user input such as commands or questions, including verbal ones. Such technologies often incorporate chatbot capabilities to streaml ...

and speech-to-text dictation application for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

developed by Brainasoft. Braina uses

natural language interface Natural-language user interface (LUI or NLUI) is a type of computer human interface where linguistic phenomena such as verbs, phrases and clauses act as UI controls for creating, selecting and modifying data in software applications. In interfa ...

speech synthesis Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware products. A text-to-speech (TTS) system converts normal langua ...

, and

speech recognition Speech recognition is an interdisciplinary subfield of computer science and computational linguistics that develops methodologies and technologies that enable the recognition and translation of spoken language into text by computers. It is also ...

technology to interact with its users and allows them to use natural language sentences to perform various tasks on a computer. The name Braina is a short form of "Brain Artificial". Braina is marketed as a

Microsoft Copilot Microsoft Copilot (or simply Copilot) is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Microsoft. Based on the GPT-4 series of large language models, it was launched in 2023 as Microsoft's primary replacement for the discontinued C ...

alternative. It provides a voice interface for several locally run and cloud

large language model A large language model (LLM) is a language model trained with self-supervised machine learning on a vast amount of text, designed for natural language processing tasks, especially language generation. The largest and most capable LLMs are g ...

s, including the latest LLMs from providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Grok, Meta, Mistral, etc., while improving data privacy. Braina also allows responses from its in-house large language models like Braina Swift and Braina Pinnacle. It has an "Artificial Brain" feature that provides persistent memory support for supported LLMs.

Features

Braina provides is able to carry out various tasks on a computer, including automation. Braina can take commands inputted through typing or through dictation to store reminders, find information online, perform mathematical operations, open files, generate images from text, transcribe speech, and control open windows or programs. Braina adapts to user behavior over time with a goal of better anticipating needs.

Speech-to-text dictation

Braina Pro can type spoken words into an active window at the location of a user's cursor. Its

technology supports more than 100 languages and dialects and is able to isolate the recognition of a user's voice from disturbing environmental factors such as background noise, other human voices, or external devices. Braina can also be taught to dictate uncommon legal, medical, and scientific terms. Users can also teach Braina uncommon names and vocabulary. Users can edit or correct dictated text without using a keyboard or mouse by giving built-in voice commands.

Text-to-speech

Braina can read aloud selected texts, such as e-books.

Custom commands and automation

Braina can automate computer tasks. It lets users create custom voice commands to perform tasks such as opening files, programs, websites, or emails, as well as executing keyboard or mouse macros.

Transcription

Braina can transcribe media file formats such as

WAV Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or WAV due to its filename extension; pronounced or ) is an audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on personal computers. The format was developed and published for the first time in 1991 ...

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...

, and

MP4 MP4 (formally MPEG-4 Part 14), is a digital multimedia container format most commonly used to store video and audio, but it can also be used to store other data such as subtitles and still images. Like most modern container formats, it allows ...

into text.

Notes and reminders

Braina can store and recall notes and reminders. These can include scheduled or unscheduled commands, checklist items, alarms, chat conversations, memos, website snippets, bookmarks, contacts.

Image generation

Brainasoft states that Braina can generate images from text using

text-to-image model A text-to-image model is a machine learning model which takes an input natural language prompt and produces an image matching that description. Text-to-image models began to be developed in the mid-2010s during the beginnings of the AI boom ...

s including

Stable Diffusion Stable Diffusion is a deep learning, text-to-image model released in 2022 based on Diffusion model, diffusion techniques. The generative artificial intelligence technology is the premier product of Stability AI and is considered to be a part of ...

and

DALL-E DALL-E, DALL-E 2, and DALL-E 3 (stylised DALL·E) are text-to-image models developed by OpenAI using deep learning methodologies to generate digital images from natural language descriptions known as Prompt engineering, ''prompts''. The first ...

Platforms

In addition to the desktop version for Windows operating systems, Braina is also available for the iOS and Android operating systems. The mobile version of Braina has a feature allowing remote management of a Windows PC connected via

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

Distributions

Braina is distributed in multiple modes. These include Braina Lite, a freeware version with limitations, and premium versions Braina Pro, Pro Plus, and Pro Ultra. Some additional features in the Pro version include dictation, custom vocabulary, video transcription, automation, custom voice commands, and persistent LLM memory.

Reception

TechRadar ''TechRadar'' is an online technology publication owned by Future plc. It has editorial teams in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia that provide news and reviews of tech products and gadgets. It was launched in 2008 and expanded t ...

has consistently listed Braina as one of the best dictation and virtual assistant apps between 2015 and 2024.

References

{{Intelligent personal assistant software Chatbots Natural language processing software OpenAI Speech recognition software Large language models Speech synthesis Windows software Virtual assistants