What is AI transcription?
Transcription is turning speech into text. The text can be wrong on names, numbers, and accents. It is not a summary and not a decision. Speech-to-text is the same job.
Also called: speech-to-text
In plain English
A voicemail becomes words you can search. That is useful. A wrong street number in the transcript is also useful if you notice it, and expensive if you do not. Recording the call in the first place needs consent rules that match where you operate. This page is not legal advice. Audio is messy in a shop: names, street numbers, and 'fifteen' versus 'fifty.' Read the names and the numbers before anyone acts on a transcript. Keep the recording until you have checked, if the tool allows and the customer expects that. A pretty transcript of the wrong word is still the wrong word. Do not let a summary replace the line where the address was said. Have the person who was in the room correct the names once. Their corrections are the only dictionary that matters for your town. Street numbers deserve the same pass. Replay the digits out loud.
How an owner would use it
Transcribe so a person can read faster, then check names, addresses, and dollar amounts against the audio when they matter. Do not let a transcript trigger a customer promise without that check.
Common mistakes
Filing the transcript as what was said, without a spot check on numbers, is the miss. So is transcribing a call you were not allowed to record. Do not ask the model to 'clean up' a transcript in a way that changes who promised what. Cleanup can be a summary. Keep the raw transcript if there is a dispute.
A worked example
A pool service company
The chemical name gets a second listen
This is an illustration, not a customer result. A tech's voicemail is transcribed into the job note. The transcript says a product the company does not use. The dispatcher plays ten seconds of audio, fixes the product name, and only then drafts the customer text.
Related terms
Prompts and guides
Questions owners ask
What is transcription?
Transcription converts speech to text. The text needs a check wherever a name, a number, or a promise matters.
How do I use transcripts in a service business?
Use them to route and to draft. Verify the operational facts against the audio or the job file before a customer is told a time or a price.
Is speech-to-text different?
It is the same job under a more technical name. The product may be a phone tool, a meeting tool, or a file you upload. The risk to names and numbers is the same.
Product guides are on AI apps for business.