How I Write 10x Faster Using Otter.ai Transcription + ChatGPT

I’ve been writing a lot of content lately (no surprise 🙂), and I recently stumbled upon a new method to write a heck of a lot faster by using Otter.ai transcription to transcribe an audio recording and then feeding that transcript into ChatGPT for editing.

Here’s my process:

  1. Use Otter.ai for transcription
  2. Use ChatGPT for editing
  3. Add finishing touches manually

1. Use Otter.ai for transcription

I came up with this idea because I’ve been spending a lot of time writing at my desk and I’ve noticed a lot of tension in my neck and shoulders.

So I’ve been exploring new ways to continue producing as much content as possible while reducing manual work and decreasing the demand on my own time and energy.

The first breakthrough I had was realizing that I could write using my voice instead of typing on a keyboard.

The average person can handwrite 13 words per minute, type 40 words per minute, and speak 150 words per minute.

I also find that I sometimes think better when I’m talking out loud.

In the old days, wealthy people had scribes to write down what they were saying.

Now, there’s software that can do this for free.

Personally, I use Otter.ai for transcription, but there are plenty of others.

Here’s how to get started:

  1. Download the Otter.ai app on your phone
  2. Log in or sign up
  3. Open the app
  4. Click the microphone button in the bottom right corner
  5. Start talking

It’s that easy.

When you’re talking, you’ll know that the transcription is working if see your words typing out on the screen.

Here’s a tip: don’t worry about being perfect.

It’s okay to pause, correct yourself, repeat yourself, and add side notes for how you want to edit or format the writing later.

The most important thing is to just get the words out.

After talking for 10 to 20 minutes, you should have a transcript of 500 to 1000 words.

When you’re done, click the “stop” button (it’s a square at the bottom of the screen).

The recording will save with “Note” as the title by default. You can change the title to whatever you want.

Congrats! You just wrote a full-length piece in a fraction of the time it would have taken to handwrite or type it.

Next, we’ll edit the transcript on a laptop or desktop.

Note: it’s possible to do this whole process on your mobile phone because ChatGPT has a mobile app now, but I prefer to do editing on my big computer monitor.

2. Use ChatGPT for editing

Okay, now we’re on a laptop or desktop.

Here’s how to copy your transcript from Otter:

  1. Go to the Otter.ai website
  2. Log in
  3. Click on the recording
  4. Click on “My Conversations”
  5. Click on the recording you just did
  6. In the top right, click the three dots
  7. Click “Export”
  8. You can download the transcript as a txt file
  9. Or, you can just copy it from the “Transcript Preview”

Now that you have your transcript copied, let’s go over to ChatGPT for editing:

  1. Open a new tab
  2. Go to https://chat.openai.com/auth/login
  3. Log in or sign up
  4. Click on “New chat”
  5. Or, start typing where it says, “Send a message”

Before we just dump the whole transcript into ChatGPT, we have to tell ChatGPT what we want it to do. This is called prompting.

Here’s the prompt I suggest using:

I have an audio transcript that I would like you to edit. Please review the transcript and make corrections for typos, repeated words, punctuation, grammar, and spelling errors. Additionally, feel free to add paragraph breaks, headings, or lists where it makes sense for better readability. Remember not to change any of the content; your focus should be solely on improving the transcript's overall structure, coherence, and language quality.

Here's the transcript:

[Insert your transcript here]

Paste the transcript that you copied from Otter and send the message.

ChatGPT will immediately start typing out the edited version of your transcript.

Editing that would have taken you 1-2 hours takes ChatGPT less than 30 seconds.

3. Add finishing touches manually

From here, it depends on what kind of writing you’re doing.

If you’re just sending a letter to a friend or an email to a colleague, it’s probably ready to send.

If you’re writing an essay for school, you’ll obviously want to go through and spruce up the language to make it sound more academic and probably cite a few sources.

For me, I write a lot of blog posts.

So I usually copy the edited transcript from ChatGPT and paste it into Notion for manual editing.

Once I have the draft 95% done, I paste it into my WordPress back-end where I add formatting, images, links, etc.

Conclusion

I’m super excited about this new method of writing for two reasons. ✌️

First, I think it’ll help me produce a lot more content in a shorter amount of time.

Second, it allows me to get up from my desk and still continue writing. I can go for a walk, sit in the park, or even do yoga—all while “writing” by talking out loud. It integrates my writing work with my life in a healthier way.

If you want to learn more about how to use AI for writing, check out our blog.