Artificial Intelligence for Transcribing

For the longest time, I was 100% against artificial intelligence for transcribing. Up until a few months ago, I had tried Dragon Naturally Speaking, Google’s Automatic Speech Recognition, and Express Scribe’s built-in speech-to-text. Those are all great if you are pronouncing words slowly and adding punctuation as you go. As you probably already know, though, recordings are anything but slow most of the time. So, none of these AI programs are very helpful when it comes to transcription assistance - because none of these automatically add paragraphing or punctuation. The AI output of those programs are just too complicated to correct all the mistakes, especially without paragraphs and punctuation.

Artificial Intelligence For Transcribing: Otter.AI

Out of the blue, I decided to try one of the most popular AI transcribing programs on the market today – Otter.ai. Let me just say that I love that it does include periods to separate sentences. I can easily change those to question marks or exclamation marks if needed. And it includes paragraphs. Otter still isn’t perfect. It can’t handle 2 hours of 20 plus speakers talking back and forth. It also mishears quite a few words, but the paragraphs and periods make it so much easier to proofread and make corrections in my transcribing software. Proofreading and editing are available right in the Otter program too. However, I find it’s easier to edit in my transcribing software.

I decided to try Otter.ai when I was bombarded with so much transcribing. Otter can record and transcribe at the same time. So, I can work on one transcribing job on my desktop while Otter is working on another one for me on my laptop. Then, I can proofread and edit that one once I’m finished with my other transcribing job. Let me iterate that you should always proofread AI transcripts. They are a long way from being perfect. However, it’s nice to have a backup when you’re busy with other work or if you need to give your fingers, hands, and wrists a break from typing.

Although I decided to pay for an annual subscription ($99.96), Otter does have a free version you can use. The free version allows you to import 3 video or audio files per month to transcribe. And it allows 600 hours per month of recordings (no longer than 40 minutes each) that will also transcribe in real-time for you. That’s very generous compared to other sites like Otter.

Image courtesy of Otter.ai

Other Transcribing AI

Below are only a few transcribing programs/sites that are available. None of them are as affordable as Otter is though. But as I’ve mentioned, I do like to offer choices to readers as often as possible. So, here’s a small list for you to do some personal research for yourself.

Temi is supposed to be good. However, they charge .25 cents per minute after 1 free file that is under 45 minutes in length. That’s a lot coming out of your pocket!

AmazonTranscribe offers 60 minutes of transcription free each month for 1 year. I’m not sure what the fee is after that 60 minutes. I’ve read that Amazon Transcribe is used mostly by businesses. And it looks like it’s very difficult to use.

Sonix.ai gives you 30 minutes of transcribing free. And then, the fees start at $10 for an hour of video or audio. Wow! That might be okay if you get paid way more for that hour of video or audio. Otherwise, that’s, again, a lot coming out of your pocket.

These are the three that I have heard the most about besides Otter. As you can see, AI transcription can get very pricey. And all of it is only as accurate as the recording is easy to understand. Human ears pick up words better in any case. But as far as price, I am partial to Otter.ai and the fact that they do have a generous amount of free transcription they allow you each month.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Please continue to watch for more work-from-home posts, and visit my professional transcribing tips page. Take care and God bless.

Patricia