Shares of Nuance Communications (NUAN) are sliding after Google (GOOG; GOOGL) said it is planning to open up its speech recognition application program interface to third-party developers. The new service was announced today during Google’s NEXT cloud user conference and, in its initial phase, Google Cloud Speech API will be available at no cost.

WHAT’S NEW: Google is opening its Cloud Speech API to third-party developers, putting it in direct competition not only with Nuance but also other voice recognition companies. The giant’s speech recognition API enables developers to convert audio to text by applying neutral network models in an easy to use application program interface. The API recognizes over 80 languages and variants to support a global user base. Cloud Speech also identifies audio uploaded in the request, and in upcoming releases, will integrate with audio storage on Google Cloud Storage. The company said that there is no cost for usage of the service during this limited preview, but added it will introduce pricing in future phases.

PRICE ACTION: In afternoon trading, Nuance Communications’ stock was slipping about 4.5% to $18.31, while Class A shares of Google’s parent Alphabet were up fractionally to $761.62. 

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