How fast can you write? 200 words per minute? 250 words per minute? Well, with AI tools, you can write at a speed of 400 words per minute. This applies to both computers and mobile phones. It’s especially magical on mobile phones, considering the slower typing speed on those tiny virtual keyboards.
This tool can significantly accelerate your workflow, whether it’s composing emails, jotting down ideas, or even writing articles. AI tools, combined with speech-to-text technology, result in five times faster writing speed.
I have been using speech-to-text tools for years, allowing me to write two to three times faster. Although it was challenging initially, I developed a habit of using these tools and honed my dictation abilities to achieve optimal results.
However, the year 2023 has brought about a life-changing introduction with the advent of numerous AI tools. These tools can even integrate with speech-to-text services, enhancing transcription accuracy to a level of perfection.
Having tried various speech-to-text services, I found Google’s Speech to Text to perform better. However, I recently came across Whisper, a product from OpenAI. Whisper AI is a transcription tool that leverages artificial intelligence to predict words. Even if your speech isn’t crystal clear, it can still understand and transcribe your voice accurately. Currently, I am using this tool to write the article on my iPhone, despite significant background noise, and it is still able to pick up my voice.
Here is a list of tools you can utilize in different usecases.
VoiceIn Chrome Extension
This Chrome extension uses Google’s speech to text API. Although it is not that accurate, it is the fastest tool to type using your voice, because you can use it in real time. If you have to send a quick email or a reply on social media, you can use this Chrome extension.
Unlike OpenAI’s Whisper, it doesn’t require the audio to be sent to it’s servers, you can continue talking into the mic, it keeps inputting the text in the input text field.
Bonus Tip: Set up a keyboard shortcut to toggle it on and off. This way you will be easily able to talk into the mic and convert it into text.
AudioPen
If you are looking for a better option with a small limitation, you can use AudioPen. It does not transcribe in real time, as the audio needs to be sent to Whisper AI for transcribing.
If you are patient enough, you will get perfect transcription, properly formatted, even if you make mistakes. It’s great for putting your thoughts in words.
Bonus Tip: AudioPen is available as a web app for computers as well as mobile phones. But the Chrome extension lets you create text much faster.
Start the recorder and start speaking into the microphone. You can switch between different tabs. For example, if you are doing research work and have got multiple tabs open, you can go through each tab, read out the information and AudioPen will capture it, format it nicely so that you will have to spend less time compiling text from multiple sources.
MacWhisper
MacWhisper is a great free tool you can download for Mac computers. Not only will it let you convert your audio into properly transcribed text, it is capable of transcribing full length videos and audios.
The Pro version has more functions, such as tagging the speakers and exporting the text as an SRT file which you can use for adding subtitles for videos.
But the simple use case can also be using Mac Whisper as a tool for voice typing. Alternatively you can use the Dictation feature on Mac Computer.
Dictation on macOS Sonoma
Apple is bringing much needed improvement to the Dictation feature on Mac computers.
The next operating system Mac OS Sonoma will let users use the Dictation feature along with the Keyboard (currently the Dictation gets disabled when you start using the keyboard).
The Dictation feature has got improvements as it uses AI to predict the text for accurate transcription. With the Dictation feature, you can use Speech to Text anywhere on your computer, even outside of the Google Chrome browser. Same goes for the Dictation feature on iPhone with iOS 17.
