Substack introduces new AI-powered audio transcription tools

Substack is introducing new AI-powered tools that are designed to make podcasting on the platform easier, the company announced on Wednesday. With these new tools, users can easily generate transcripts and audiograms.

Users can now use an AI tool to create a transcript of their podcast episode or narration in about a minute. Once you have created the transcript, you can go in and edit it to make it just how you like it. You can then publish it in its own tab on the episode post page.

Then, you can select a passage that you can then use to generate a special audiogram that you can share to social media. An audiogram is like a little static video with text and the audio playing over top that you can share online. It’s essentially a neat way to show off your podcast episode.

“We’ve done this all using cutting-edge AI tools, and it reflects our philosophy of not thinking that this AI stuff is ever going to take the place of work done by writers and creators—but instead we think it can give writers and creators super-powers,” the company wrote in a blog post.

To access the new tools, users need to go to their dashboard and create an episode post. Once you’re in editing mode and upload your audio, you will be presented with an option to generate the transcript. You can then click the “Generate Transcript” button and wait around a minute. When you publish it, there’s a default-on toggle that will make sure that the transcript will show up in the post alongside your episode. You can choose to turn this option off if you want to.

Once the transcript is published, you can select a passage and then click “Make audiogram” to generate the social sharing asset.

“All of these tools are in their very early stages and they’re only going to get better and better,” Substack notes. “Stick with us for a while, because while they may not be perfect at first glance, they are going to rapidly evolve. We want you to have fun with them though, so we want to get this out to you sooner rather than later.”