The Unwanted Subtitles
Google Chrome includes a highly advanced accessibility feature called “Live Caption.” When enabled, the browser utilizes on-device machine learning to actively listen to any audio playing through your speakers (whether it’s a YouTube video, a Spotify song, or a Zoom meeting) and automatically generates text subtitles in a floating black box at the bottom of the screen. While this is a brilliant technological achievement for the deaf and hard of hearing, it is highly distracting for the average user, especially since the AI frequently misinterprets words and generates bizarre, incorrect subtitles. You can completely disable the transcription engine.
How to Turn Off Live Caption
You can revoke Chrome’s permission to analyze your audio via the Accessibility settings.
- Open the Google Chrome desktop browser.
- Click the three vertical dots (⋮) in the top right corner and select Settings.
- In the left-hand sidebar, click on Accessibility.
- At the very top of the main window, look for the master toggle switch labeled Live Caption.
- Toggle this switch to the Off position (the switch will turn grey).
Audio Privacy
The change is instantaneous. The floating black subtitle box will instantly vanish from your screen. Google Chrome will completely shut down the on-device transcription AI and stop analyzing the audio streams passing through the browser, ensuring your videos and podcasts remain completely free of distracting, auto-generated text.