Transcription is not pleasant at all. Good thing AI is really good at this. Aika is an application for Mac, iPad and iPhone users Whisper— open source technology created by OpenAI — for transcribing audio files. Aiko does not upload the file to the cloud for transcription; everything happens on your device. It works quite quickly, too: I managed to transcribe a half-hour radio play in just a few minutes.
The app works best on devices with Apple Silicon processors (Intel-based Macs are technically supported, but transcription is extremely leisurely); my 2022 iPhone SE was significantly faster than my 2018 Intel-based MacBook Pro, which took about three minutes to transcribe a 10-second conversation. However, if you have the right hardware, this app is almost perfect.
Source: Justin Pot
To get started, you need to point the app at the file or start recording what you want to transcribe. You can add any audio or video file to the application and it will immediately start creating transcriptions for you. The recording feature is mainly for quick notes – the software recommends that you record something first using another app if possible. The mobile version can pull audio from the Voice Memos app, which is a nice touch.
Source: Justin Pot
The app will display the text as it is transcribed, which means you can start reading before the full transcription is complete. The app automatically detects what language is spoken, although if you prefer, you can set a different language in the settings. If you want, you can even set the app to automatically translate non-English conversations into English.
It’s not a perfect app – for example, there’s no way to indicate who’s speaking in the text. However, it works quickly and is completely free, so it’s challenging to complain too much. This will be my go-to tool from now on.
