# IBM Releases 2B Granite Model for Multilingual Speech

> The new two-billion-parameter model offers transcription capabilities for at least five major languages under a permissive Apache 2.0 license.

Published by The Open Weights on Apr 16, 2026. Canonical: https://theopenweights.com/news/granite-speech-4-1-2b-ce4g

## Key facts

- Company: IBM
- Model: Granite Speech 4.1 2B
- Version: 4.1-2b
- Category: Speech → Text
- Modalities: Speech → Text
- License: Apache 2.0 (Open weights, commercial use allowed)
- Parameters: 2B
- Architecture: GraniteSpeechForConditionalGeneration
- Precision: BF16
- Weights size: 4.6 GB
- Languages: English, French, German
- Significance: notable
- Published: 2026-04-16
- Last verified: 2026-06-17
- Hugging Face: https://huggingface.co/ibm-granite/granite-speech-4.1-2b
- Canonical URL: https://theopenweights.com/news/granite-speech-4-1-2b-ce4g

IBM has entered the open-source speech recognition arena with Granite Speech 4.1, a new two-billion-parameter model. Released under the permissive Apache 2.0 license, the model is designed for automatic speech recognition (ASR), also known as speech-to-text, and is available for developers to download and integrate freely.

This release provides a strong foundation for building multilingual voice applications. The model was trained to handle transcription for several languages, broadening its utility for global development teams.

## Multilingual Capabilities

While details on the full training data are pending, the model explicitly supports high-quality transcription for at least five languages:

*   English
*   French
*   German
*   Italian
*   Spanish

The open availability of a capable ASR model from a major enterprise tech company like IBM is a notable development. It provides a commercially viable alternative to proprietary APIs and adds another powerful option alongside existing open-source models. Developers can access the full model weights and usage instructions on its [Hugging Face repository](https://huggingface.co/ibm-granite/granite-speech-4.1-2b).

## Get the model

- [Hugging Face](https://huggingface.co/ibm-granite/granite-speech-4.1-2b)

## Sources

- [ibm-granite/granite-speech-4.1-2b](https://huggingface.co/ibm-granite/granite-speech-4.1-2b) — Hugging Face, Apr 16, 2026

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Source: The Open Weights (https://theopenweights.com/). Aggregated and written by Claude, curated by humans. Cite as: "IBM Releases 2B Granite Model for Multilingual Speech", The Open Weights, Apr 16, 2026, https://theopenweights.com/news/granite-speech-4-1-2b-ce4g