I have the same problem with Dictation. Latest M4 MBA, latest OS.
So, I came to this site because dictation stopped working in Apple Mail 30" ago – and it works perfectly here. I have changed nothing in between switching from mail to Safari. Having used Dictation since the beginning, I can assert that there is absolutely no predictable rhyme or reason to when it stops. In Mail, for example, restarting usually re-facilitates the double press of the Function button (how my dictation is set up to activate). I can usually dictate half a dozen pieces, one after the other, and then again for some completely unknown reason the tone that hitting the function button twice makes is different, and Dictation has simply stopped.
As you can see from this dictated post here, Dictation is quite accurate these days, but the intermittent and unpredictable stopping is an extremely frustrating matter if you're an author as I am, because one's train of thought is completely disturbed by the fact that dictation has just momentarily stopped working.
When I logged on here, a new screen came up with a tick box which says that Apple might contact me to talk about this problem – if that happens I will be over the moon. We have always been told by moderators here that we need to contact Apple Feedback in order to get whatever we're talking about here sent over to the tech. people at Apple. And I have done this many times. I've always wondered why Apple Tech did not read these community forums as a matter of course – after all, it is key information about what does and doesn't work written by people who use the tech. every day. Here's hoping.
Contra to what VikingOSX wrote, it is my understanding that what you dictate is not sent to Apple live – all the processing is done on one's own machine. I personally would be very happy to have my words sent to Apple for processing there, with a hope that dictation learns and becomes even better. When it works, it is fabulous. When it stops – a different story.
