Transcribing, rewriting and summarizing

Nr. 7 – Transcribing, taking notes, and summarising with AI

Contrary to what most people think, a technical writer is not stuck behind a desk all day. Quite the opposite, you regularly go out! In one of the first blogs of this series, we talked about AI and collecting information. In that blog we shared the most important source of information of a technical product or system: the manufacturer. You visit the manufacturer to see the product in its natural habitat. That’s precisely what makes being a technical writer so enjoyable: you get to go behind the scenes at radiator heater factories or see what actually happens inside water treatment plants, just to name a few examples. You learn something new every day!

The purpose of your visit is, of course, to gather information. And you want to be able to take that information home with you in some form. You have a few ways of doing so:

• Take notes: either the old-fashioned way with pen and paper or using one of many digital tools.
• Record the conversation and take videos of the machine or installation. Remember to ask the manufacturer and your conversation partners for permission first.
• Bring someone to take notes of the conversation for you. It’s nice to go with someone else so you can see and hear more, although it’s harder to schedule.

By now, you may be familiar with the theme of this blog series and wonder: can’t AI transcribe, take notes, or summarize the conversation? The answer: yes, it can. There are a number of popular AI tools that help transcribe recordings and take notes of your conversation. Here are a few examples:

• Otter.ai is a tool that can transcribe recordings or take notes of the conversation in real time. It also has the option to instantly convert the conversation into a format that suits you best, such as a summary of the most important insights or a conversation report.
• Descript is a tool that lets you transcribe your audio and video recordings. What makes it special is that it includes audio editing features. That can be very useful if your recording is full of background noise from a loud factory or the highway next to the water treatment plant. You don’t need an extra program to filter out background noises.
• Google Speech-to-Text is a powerful AI-tool with accurate speech-to-text conversion that can also recognise different languages. You can customise the model to tailor it to specific jargon or terminology. This makes the tool very suitable for technical uses. And on top of that, it’s free.

Before “hiring” AI as your secretary or transcriber

There are a few things to keep in mind when employing AI for these kinds of tasks:

The accuracy of the tool’s transcription or note-taking depends on the audio quality. Static, background noise, or a conversation partner with a strong accent (or loose dentures) can cause errors in your transcript or minutes. Make sure you always check the transcript or summary thoroughly and correct it based on your recording. Of course, manual corrections can still take up quite a lot of your time.

Therefore, being prepared is key: make sure that there is a ‘clean’ recording for the tool to use. Tip 1: place the recording device near the person speaking. It could be useful to purchase a separate recording device with a microphone. Some AI tools have filters that help suppress static sounds and background noise. Remember to set these filters in advance.

If you have a recording with background noise, you can first enhance it with an audio editing programme. Audacity is one of these programmes. The only disadvantage is that you have to learn how such a programme works. In addition, buying a piece of software like that doesn’t come cheap.

As with other tasks, these AI tools struggle with context. Especially when someone uses irony (saying the opposite of what they mean) or makes a joke, AI may not understand or misinterpret it. This is another reason to carefully check the tool’s results.

Not every AI-tool understands technical terms, jargon, or company and product names. As a technical writer, it’s important to be aware of this. Don’t rely solely on AI. Feel free to take your own notes, especially when it comes to subtle details, technical nuances, or emotional context. AI tools can’t read between the lines and they certainly don’t pick up on non-verbal signals in audio recordings.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: check the security and privacy measures taken by the AI-tool of your choice. Where are recorded conversations stored and how are they secured? This is an important question to ask when you’re working on a manual for entirely new products or systems. To what extent are company secrets digitally ‘out in the open’ once you let AI process a recording or conversation? What if you don’t have internet access on location? Or what if your smartphone battery dies? Be prepared for technical issues and always bring a pen and paper as a backup.

It is important to choose a tool that is accurate and reliable, especially since technical writers often work with sensitive information. Check the security of the tool and check whether it can handle technical jargon. Inform yourself on how and what the AI-tool is trained with. You’ll get the best results if you combine AI tools with your own input. This is especially important for technical writers, for whom it’s crucial to be accurate and to understand the context (and use) of information.

Can AI do the job for you? The short answer: yes, AI can help you process conversations in less time. The secret lies in the collaboration between the AI-tool and your own human brain.

At Foxiz we implement AI in a safe, smart and effective way to aid our specialists with their work on technical documentation and translation. That’s how we create high quality technical content. This way we’re combining the best of both worlds!

This was the last blog of this series on Foxiz and AI. That doesn’t mean we’ll stop using AI, quite the opposite. We aim to keep researching ways to use AI to make sure we can do our work even better and more efficiently.

In need of proper technical documentation for your product or system? Want to pick our minds on how to improve your documentation and its translation? Or are you interested in a job as technical documentalist? Please contact us! We are happy to help you.