Raycast combines voice dictation and screen awareness in new AI feature

Following the recent release of Screen Awareness, Raycast got an interesting update this week that lets users talk to AI about whatever is on their screen without having to explain the context. Here are the details.

Raycast makes contextual AI even more streamlined

Last August, Raycast announced Screen Awareness, which lets users bring context from their active app or window directly into AI Chat, “so you don’t have to copy text, attach screenshots, or explain what you’re looking at,” said Raycast.

This week, Raycast took that functionality a step further with Dictate to AI, a new command that lets users speak their requests while automatically providing AI with context from the active app.

Here is Raycast’s Pedro Duarte showing how Dictate to AI works:

Raycast notes that the release also includes:

- A new Dictation AI extension, so you can use your transcriptions in AI Chat, manage your styles and get feedback on them.

- On Mac, a menu bar command to keep track of your AI usage. Turn it on in Settings → AI → Show AI Usage in Menu Bar.

- On Mac, a Contacts AI extension to search, create, update and delete contacts from AI Chat.

Raycast also noted other recent updates and additions, including that Raycast Notes now supports images and unlimited notes for free users, while the Mac app received several performance improvements, including faster search and lower memory usage.

Meanwhile, Raycast for iOS got a new keyboard with AI-powered writing tools, along with improved Cloud Sync capabilities.

Windows users also got some love, with Screen Awareness gaining new commands to send individual elements or entire windows to AI Chat.

To learn more about Raycast v2.11, follow this link.