🤖 AI transcribers duke it out

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Hello reader,

I may not be that old, but I am old enough to remember the time when transcription software was next to useless.

The free options available on the market back then were invariably incredibly inaccurate, which meant it made more sense to manually transcribe interviews. This was a painstaking and time-consuming process, especially if you had to listen to your own voice over and over.

When I first used Otter.ai, it was a revelation. This AI transcription software’s speed and accuracy was a game-changer.

But Otter.ai is still far from perfect, and in my experience, it struggles to accurately transcribe speech by non-native English speakers. This is where Indonesian startup Meeting.ai comes in. It’s betting that tackling this pain point will pave the way to success.

Today we look at:

• The AI transcription showdown between Meeting.ai and Otter.ai
• Vietnam’s probable ban on Shein and Temu* Other newsy highlights such as the competition law violations of Zomato and Swiggy in India and the rise of Tesla’s market cap to US$1 trillion.

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Now you’re speaking my language

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Some of the market leaders in the AI-powered meeting transcription services space have made big bucks, but one Indonesia-based startup that hasn’t raised any external funding believes it can compete globally.

Launched last year, Meeting.ai is taking on the likes of Otter.ai and Read.ai, with a focus on accuracy for non-native English speakers as its differentiator.

• Cocktail: Entrepreneur Hokiman Kurniawan founded Meeting.ai using recurring revenue from another company he’d established, Bahasa.ai, which specialized in creating custom chatbots for local enterprises. Meeting.ai uses a mix of open-source speech recognition technology for its transcription tool, which Kurniawan says keeps costs down while maintaining accuracy.
• Think local: Meeting.ai has developed its own AI model specializing in the Indonesian language using data Bahasa.ai collected since 2017 for the training. The company feels this gives the app an edge over other transcription software firms when it comes to this language.
• By the numbers: Globally, the company currently has over 111,000 total active users, about 20,000 of whom regularly access the app every month. Unlike many competitors that charge on a per-customer basis, Meeting.ai imposes an hourly rate. For US$27 per month, one can have 10 hours of transcription credits, while double that time plus other features costs US$49 per month.

Read more: Battle of the AI transcribers: Meeting.ai takes on Otter.ai

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