AI Transcription Services - What's Out There?
Reviewing What's in the Market
This blog presents an overview of currently available AI transcription services. Such services offer expediency for "in-house" departmental meetings, as well as for engagements involving external participants. Consequently, the recording and real-time transcription are supported across both pure audio and video conferencing platforms. It is hoped that this review will serve as a valuable resource to help you with the selection of an application most suited to your specific circumstances.
Photo by Sung Jin Cho on Unsplash
Here is a summary developed from their website:
Otter.ai is an advanced artificial intelligence-powered platform specialising in real-time transcription and note-taking services. It converts speech from both live conversations and audio-video recordings into searchable text. The service is designed to integrate with popular video conferencing applications such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, thereby providing immediate transcription for virtual meetings and other professional engagements. A key feature, OtterPilot, can be scheduled to join meetings autonomously to capture comprehensive notes, allowing participants to engage fully in the discussion without the distraction of manual notetaking.
Photo by Kedar Gadge on Unsplash
The platform extends beyond basic transcription by offering a suite of collaborative and analytical tools designed to enhance productivity. These capabilities include automatic speaker identification, the extraction of key summary points, and the generation of action items from dialogue. Furthermore, an integrated AI Chat function allows users to ask specific questions about the meeting's outcomes.
Extracted from: https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/business/otter-ai
Here is a simple overview of what the application offers:
Here is a summary of the Fireflies application (from its website):
Fireflies.ai is an AI meeting assistant that specialises in transcribing, summarising, and analysing conversations across various video conferencing platforms, including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. The platform automates the process of note-taking by joining scheduled meetings to capture discussion points. Its capabilities extend beyond transcription to include the identification of action items, key questions, and critical decisions, converting raw dialogue into structured and actionable meeting minutes.
Photo by Evan Leith on Unsplash
A distinctive feature of Fireflies.ai lies in its advanced search and collaboration features, which allow teams to navigate through lengthy transcripts and comment on specific moments within the conversation. The platform also integrates with Customer Relationship Management and project management tools, creating tasks directly from meeting insights.
Extracted from: https://fireflies.ai/
Here is a summary of the Krisp application (from its website):
Krisp.ai is an AI-powered application engineered to enhance audio clarity during online communication by removing background noise and canceling echoes in real-time. Unlike conventional hardware-based solutions, Krisp operates as a software-based virtual microphone and speaker, which allows it to integrate with any communication or recording platform, including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and others. Its primary function is to isolate the human voice from disruptive ambient sounds, ensuring that only clear speech is transmitted to other meeting participants.
Photo by Zoshua Colah on Unsplash
In addition, Krisp.ai now offers meeting assistance features. The application can automatically join scheduled calls to transcribe conversations, generate summaries, and extract key action items. This transcription and note-taking service provides users with searchable records of their discussions. Thus, Krisp.ai positions itself as a communication tool that addresses both audio clarity and the generation of minutes/transcripts.
Extracted from: https://krisp.ai/
Note: This video focuses on its noise reducing feature:
Here is a list of others that you may wish to explore:
- Granola for combining human and AI notes
- Avoma for conversation analytics
- tl;dv for AI-powered meeting search
- Equal Time for inclusive meetings
- Fellow for data privacy and security
- Fathom for a free option
These have been extracted from this blog “The 9 best AI meeting assistants in 2025”:
https://zapier.com/blog/best-ai-meeting-assistant/
Here is a table that summarises the features of each in relation to teachers:
| Application | Primary Use Case | Key Features | Ideal For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otter.ai | Meeting Transcription & Collaboration | Live Collaboration: Allows department members to highlight, comment, and assign action items directly in the live transcript during a meeting. Perfect for drafting curriculum changes or event plans together. | Departments that collaborate actively in meetings and need a shared, actionable record. |
| Fireflies.ai | Automating Meeting Workflows | Action Item Tracking: Automatically identifies and extracts decisions and tasks. Can help track follow-ups from meetings about festival planning, budget requests, or instrument purchases. | Departments that need clear accountability and tracking of action items after meetings. |
| Krisp.ai | Audio Clarification for Remote Meetings | Noise Cancellation: Removes background noise like instrument practice, announcements, or hallway chatter from remote or in-room meeting participants. | Departments that meet online or in a noisy school environment. |
| tl;dv | Recording & Sharing Key Moments | Searchable Clips: Easily find and share a specific clip where a decision was made about the concert program or budget allocation without watching the entire meeting. | Departments that need to quickly reference and disseminate specific decisions or discussions. |
| Fathom | Free Meeting Summarization | Cost-Free Summaries: Provides a full transcript and summary of meetings at no cost, ideal for documenting department discussions for administrators or grant applications. | Departments that need reliable meeting documentation (that won't affect their budgets). |
| Fellow | Structured Meeting Agendas & Notes | Agenda Integration: Centers meetings around a shared agenda. Ideal for ensuring discussions stay on track regarding curriculum mapping, assessment strategies, or event planning. | Departments that value highly structured, agenda-driven meetings and organised documentation. |
| Avoma | Analyzing Discussion Dynamics | Talking Time Analytics: Provides metrics on speaking time to ensure all department members have an equal voice in discussions. | Departments focused on improving meeting equity and inclusive collaboration among faculty. |
| Equal Time | Promoting Inclusive Dialogue | Participation Tracking: Actively monitors and visualizes who has and hasn't spoken, promoting equitable contribution from all music faculty. | Departments consciously working to ensure every voice is heard, from new teachers to experienced faculty. |
| Granola | Blending AI & Human Notes | Hybrid Notes: Perfect for combining the AI-generated transcript with the Department Chair's own handwritten notes or existing meeting templates in a single document. | Chairs who use specific templates or prefer to add custom formatting to official minutes. |