Dictation not working (13.0 Ventura (22A380))

Try this:

Go to ~/Library/Preferences

Locate com.apple.assistant.plist and move it to the Trash

System Settings > Keyboard in the sidebar. Go to Dictation on the right, then turn it off. 

Reboot

Re-enable Dictation

I found the solution. You have to deactivate Siri.

No more problems with dictation since two days with this method.

Personally, I proceeded as follows (but I don't know if all the steps are useful):

1. System Settings > Keyboard in the sidebar. Go to Dictation on the right, then turn it off. 
2. System Settings > Siri and Spotligth > Ask to Siri, then turn it off. 
3. Go to ~/Library/Preferences
4. Locate com.apple.assistant.plist and move it to the Trash
5. Reboot
6. System Settings > Keyboard in the sidebar. Go to Dictation on the right, then turn it on

There is a conflict between Siri and the dictation engine. I realized this when I saw that it was enough to trigger Siri to unlock the problem but it is too painful. To choose between Siri and dictation, I chose dictation which is more useful to me!

I still miss Siri a little bit. I sent a report to Apple. I invite you to do the same to me.

I deciding whether to Safe Boot or remove , when I though I'd change the dictation activation shortcut key. I changed to "Control" and Dictation worked immediately. I changed back to the globe/fn key and it still worked.

Sad that Ventura is so buggy.

Hi,

I have the same problem. Being a very heavy user of dictation on macOS. I even noticed that this problem happens more frequently when you don't use the Mac's microphone, but AirPods for example.

While waiting for a fix, I found a much faster workaround than restarting the Mac when dictation stopped working.

Just say "hey Siri" right after, you can press the dictation key again, and it works fine until the next malfunction.

I just tried the solution of using Siri. I activate Siri and said "Siri turn on dictation". Siri said "dictation is already turned on". Dictation started working in Safari and in stickies which it had not been working. I don't know if this is a permanent solution. I will check back after a few days.

Hi again,

Dictation stopped working for me a few minutes ago, so there's something else you might want to try. Go to System Settings/Siri & Spotlight and click delete "Siri & Dictation History." This seemed to fix the problem, at least temporarily. It appears to be a deeper glitch than I anticipated. I'll make another report to Apple and hope for the best.

Hi NeoRoth, I use dictation all the time as well. I only use my keyboard to make corrections. I've never used the "Hey, Siri" feature, but that's a very good tip.

Since running maintenance with OnyX my problem has been resolved. I am assuming the glitch was caused by some unnecessary resources installed during the update and purging system junk seems to have done the trick. An app like CleanMyMac might provide the same results.

Hi there, I have found a workaround. I added "Canadian English" as an additional dictation option so whenever my regular dictation option won't work I just change to the Canadian English diction and it continues to work.

Also, restarting also makes the trick

This "hey Siri" trick is a great fix. I have been going crazy for days trying to get dictation to perform properly after updating to Ventura, 13.1. Deleting the P list file is one option, but it is hard to find because it's protected. It also runs a small risk of screwing things up. I was stunned by how simple it was to say "hey Siri" and have the problem disappear!

Disabling Siri has been the best "temporary" fix so far. After doing so, Dictation has been working perfectly since December 17th.

Disabling Siri has worked for me for a month. For me it's a permanent solution. I would like to have both features, but until Apple does something to fix the conflict, I will keep Siri disabled.

Just wanted to share my hack for making this work. I first run this command in the Terminal (sudo killall coreaudiod) then click on the Siri icon and ask her anything.

Hi jd2020, If you already tried tbux's solution of deleting the "com.apple.assistant.plist" from the library, then try running Oynx, CleanMyMac or similar utility to remove system junk. This worked for me. However, it's still buggy and there are some intermittent freezes.

Please take a minute to report your issue to Apple. If they receive enough complaints they'll be more likely to address it. Here's the link: Feedback - macOS - Apple

Anyone still having issues with Dictation please try running the Maintenance function of Onyx (by Titanium Software) This nifty little utility has worked miracles for me in the past and seems to have resolved the Dictation issue in Ventura.

I've had this problem for a while now since loading Ventura. At first I found a temporary solution by saying to Siri "load Dictation". Siri responds. The dictation is already loaded after that dictation works.

I found that this was only temporary and eventually it stops working so I did the same procedure and then immediately restarted the computer and it seems to stick as a solution

Somehow telling Siri to load dictation does something to fix the problem and rebooting keeps that solution active.

It may eventually stop working. I'll have to see what happens. If it stops working again, I'll try one of the above solutions.