Can AI even produce accurate transcripts? More so than humans?
Well, yes – it can, but that is also highly dependent on the service and provider you ultimately decide to go with.
What Impact has AI had on Transcription Accuracy?
No more manual drudgery – AI-powered efficiency overrules all
Traditionally speaking, transcription has more or less relied on human input: transcriptionists meticulously listening to hours of spoken content and then accurately translating it into text. While the accuracy comes down to the individual working on the transcription process, this process can be slow, cumbersome, expensive, and ultimately, prone to errors – particularly when it comes to transcribing lengthy recordings with poor audio quality.
AI transcription services offer several key advantages in this regards:
- Cost-effectiveness – Automated AI tools for transcription are very cost-effective, particularly in the long run, as they eliminate the need to hire and train human transcriptionists, saving businesses both time and money.
- Real-time transcription – AI tools utilising ‘speech-to-note’ allow journalists and media professionals to quickly transcribe everything from press conferences and speeches to interviews, all in real-time, thus, improving and accelerating the reporting process.
- Accuracy and consistency – AI-powered transcription services are surprisingly accurate; they are not susceptible to fatigue, exhaustion, or errors, all of which typically affect human transcribers. This ensures that the finalised content is error-free.
- Accessibility – Transcripts generated via AI can be searched very easily, ensuring that everybody can access and understand the content on the fly, be it an online lecture, business meeting, or live broadcast, for example.
Beyond the speed and cost advantage: How accurate is AI-driver transcription?
While some “experts” may still voice concerns or have reservations about the accuracy of AI-powered transcription, the latest advancements in machine learning (ML) have dramatically improved the overall quality and accuracy of AI-based transcriptions. Here’s how:
- AI algorithms are constantly trained on massive datasets of both speech and text. This allows them to learn non-stop and it is through this constant learning that they improve accuracy over time.
- AI tools today are highly capable of filtering out background noise, making it a lot easier to understand speech that has poor audio quality. This is an ongoing challenge being faced by many human transcribers, which can slow down the transcription process significantly.
- The latest, most advanced AI systems for transcription are able to differentiate between multiple speakers in audio content, making transcriptions of meetings, for example, or group discussions, more efficient.
Conclusion: Are there challenges in AI transcription?
There are definitely concerns around potential job displacement for human transcribers. With that said, AI transcription is quickly becoming the norm as this has presented more opportunities than challenges.
For instance, AI can easily handle practically all transcription tasks, thus, freeing up human transcribers to focus on other, more complex projects which may require specialised skills or a more nuanced understanding of the subject matter being transcribed.
On a final note, AI-based transcription services are revolutionising the way speech is captured and utilised. Singapore Transcription is at the forefront of the latest transcription solutions, utilising both AI and human transcribers to offer an incredible level of accuracy and quality, combined with fast turnarounds.