From Rough Cut to Ready: The 7 Best AI Transcription Tools for Creators Who Move Fast

AI is rapidly changing the video content industry. While there will always be a debate about the ethics of using AI—in particular generative AI—in the creative process, non-generative AI has already proven to be a game-changer, rapidly speeding up production processes for those who choose to embrace this new technology.

One non-generative AI area in the filmmaking and video production industry that is perhaps the most helpful has been the transcription process. As any seasoned videographer or video editor can tell you, transcribing interviews is quite painstaking and never fun.

AI has completely revolutionized the way interviews and other long-form videos are transcribed. If you’d like to get in on this game-changing technology and use it to streamline your videos, podcasts, or any other forms of content, let’s go over some of the best AI transcription tools available today.

Built-in AI transcription tools

Before diving into some free and paid AI transcription apps and services, let’s go over some of the AI transcription tools and features you can find in some of the most popular video editing software these days. As we’ll cover below, Adobe Premiere Pro and Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve all use AI to transcribe video and audio files into text.

Many of these NLEs also offer the ability to edit this text with AI-powered text-based editing, which helps you more seamlessly edit your videos and content around exactly what you want said content to say.

Pretty wild, right?

Let’s check out some of these built-in AI transcription services as well as some external ones worth checking out.

1. Speech to Text in Premiere Pro

Automatically generate transcripts and add captions to your videos to improve accessibility with Speech to Text in Premiere Pro.

The first AI transcription option we’ll cover is the Speech to Text tool in Adobe Premiere Pro. This AI-powered feature can automatically generate transcripts and add captions to your videos to improve accessibility. It also provides transcriptions of your content for you to work on.

This feature can be found in the Captions and Graphics workspace, which consists of the Text panel, including the Transcript and Caption tabs. Users can use these tools to auto-transcribe their videos in the Transcript tab, generate their captions, and edit them in the Caption tab and the Program Monitor.

Captions have their own track on the Timeline panel, where users can stylize them with design tools in the Essential Graphics panel. In Premiere Pro, users can edit the transcripts further, changing elements like the names of speakers, finding and replacing text, and even exporting or importing text to other places.

2. Transcribe Audio in DaVinci Resolve

Along with Premiere Pro, Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve offers a feature that can quickly and precisely transcribe audio to text, AI powered, called Transcribe Audio. This tool is only available with the paid version of the DaVinci Resolve Studio.

DaVinci Resolve also offers text-based editing where users can move around and edit transcriptions to easily edit their footage or audio content. It’s a great tool that's worth trying out for anyone who is already interested in using the Studio version of DaVinci Resolve.

3. Rev AI Transcription

One of the most popular transcription services over the past few years has been Rev, which offers both human transcriptions as well as AI transcriptions. While human transcriptions will usually be better and more accurate, AI transcription options are getting nearly just as good.

If your goal is to capture ideas instantly, streamline note-taking, or simply transcribe your interviews, podcasts, or long-form content, then the Rev AI Transcriptions will be a great beat with orders starting at just $0.25 a minute.

4. Vook.ai Transcription

Vook.ai is another great option that offers fast, accurate, and secure automated transcriptions. It also offers many extra features and controls. In addition to a mobile version and computer and smartphone options, Vook.ai’s transcriptions can identify different speakers and transcribe six different languages.

Vook.ai is also interactive. You can get ChatGPT-powered summaries or ask questions about your transcriptions, edit your text, and add other users within your organization. It supports most common file types and formats and is a safe, reliable exploration option. Pricing starts at $3 an hour.

5. Otter AI Transcription

Marketed more as an AI meeting assistant, Otter.ai voice to text is a sneaky option for creatives who work in video and content and those who work in the business sector. Otter.ai’s transcriptions are provided as automated summaries and can include helpful extras like action items. It also lets you chat with Otter to get answers from your meetings or content.

For content, though, Otter tries to help creators focus on storytelling by offering automated, real-time transcriptions that can help you capture moments accurately, live, and cost-effectively—whether a quick sound bite or a lengthy interview piece.

Otter.ai operates on subscription plans with a free version and Pro options that start at $8.33 a month.

6. GoTranscript AI

Powered by the company’s advanced AI, GoTranscript AI is a helpful AI voice transcription tool that promises to be swift and precise for seamlessly converting video speech from uploaded files into text. It is a more barebones option that is both reliable and perhaps the most affordable in this space.

GoTranscript reports that its AI transcriptions are 80-90% accurate and can deliver users' transcribed files in as little as 5 minutes, enabling fast project turnarounds. It is also one of the “cheaper” options, with its speech-to-text AI costing only $0.20 per minute.

7. Descript AI

Descript AI is one of the more advanced options for AI transcriptions for videos and content. “If you can edit text, you can edit videos” is the company’s calling card, as Descript boasts some powerful tools and features.

Descript AI is an AI-powered, full-featured, end-to-end video editor many use for various project types. While not a higher-end video software like Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve, Descript is a great option for creating content in various formats.

Descript also offers several other AI-powered video tools, like clipping, translation, eye contact tracking, removing filler sounds, and several other features. Descript AI is a subscription-based app that offers plans starting at $12 a month.

More AI editing resources

AI continues to evolve rapidly, so it will be exciting to see what new technologies emerge and how workflows are streamlined in the coming years. Yet, regardless of what AI unlocks, for those interested in leveling up their content creation skills, nothing will ever replace the core importance of being able to find a story and develop a narrative for your audience to enjoy.

With AI as a tool, this process is getting easier by the day, and there are some excellent AI video creation courses available. To stay up to date on how AI can be used to improve your content workflows and projects, check out some of these additional articles from the Soundstripe blog: