Transcription is a skill that can take years to master – learning the nuances of language, discerning accents and understanding context are all vital to accurately convey what has been said. This is one of the barriers to the more widespread use of AI transcription, especially when the content is more complex.
Let’s put this into context…
There are a number of issues with using AI when creating transcripts. Its use is limited as different accents or technical terms are too difficult for AI to accurately decipher. Not only this, in many of the AI transcripts we’ve seen the layout is not always clear and user friendly. And very importantly, the grammar and punctuation often leave a lot to be desired.
Even the very best technology currently available appears to fall short. In this blog from back in March 2019, we referred to some interesting statistics from 2017: human transcription rates are 99-100% accuracy, whereas AI has a 5.1% error rate in speech recognition. And it appears there hasn’t been much of an improvement since then, as a more recent article highlights.
It’s interesting to read the experience of others when it comes to AI transcription – and this one on how useful it is for modern journalism highlights some of the issues. One of the reasons AI is often considered is the potential for saving time – yet as this article shows, any time saving can often be completely wiped out by having to decipher the real meaning when AI gets it wrong, and then correct it.
This sentence is very telling: “It will take me as long or longer to make sense of the automatic transcription, by comparing it to the original, than to type it from scratch.”
A time and a place
But there is indeed a time and a place for AI transcriptions, and for some businesses, it’s all they need. But that doesn’t mean you need to deal with all the frustrations that are often part and parcel of these transcripts – FSTL can take care of some of them for you?!
We’re here to help!
There are a number of areas that we can help you with:
- Too busy to edit? There’s no need to spend hours editing it & having to check words, grammar or spelling. FSTL can do that for you!
- Accuracy concerns? We can go through the AI transcript, correct errors, listen to unclear words, check unknown terms and words. We can also check references and names.
- Grammar and punctuation problems? A page full of words that has no grammar or punctuation isn’t useful! Save time by using us to produce a properly formatted, corrected transcript.
- Added value? A corrected & full transcript is much more useful for report writing, sharing with others, using for future presentations/ meetings or the basis for podcasts.
Getting FSTL involved with your AI produced transcript means you get the very best product that’s been accuracy and context checked, and is provided to you in a format that is easy to work with and easy to understand. It’s one of the best ways to ensure you get maximum value for your money from your transcript.
If you’d like to know more about this particular service, please contact alex@fionashipley.com.