Can Microsoft Copilot Transcribe Audio?

Can Microsoft Copilot Convert Audio to Text?

Copilot is an AI chatbot that combines Microsoft's large language models (LLMs) with its existing products, including Bing Search's AI Chat, Microsoft Edge, and Microsoft 365 apps. Its main aim is to help you write, search, and ideate in your own way to get the job done.

However, when it comes to using Copilot to transcribe audio and video files, there are many things you need to keep in mind. For example, you need to purchase the expensive Microsoft 365 plan and Copilot add-on to use the transcription feature, which makes it a less suitable choice for individuals and small teams.

If you are someone who is confused about whether the Microsoft Copilot is ideal for your transcription tools or someone looking for an alternative, here we will reveal everything about the tool and a feature-packed AI transcription tool:

Microsoft Copilot: An Overview

Copilot is built directly into Microsoft Edge, so it is an integrated and tailored way to search for answers. You can use Copilot in Outlook and Teams to ensure you spend less time on specific tasks, like transcribing and summarizing audio to text. Copilot in Teams can transcribe meetings and even summarize what has been said so far with decent accuracy.

Copilot in Teams provides a meeting transcript, a breakdown of keywords and topics, and a summary. The meeting recap has a chat window that allows you to ask questions about the data and get insights based on the transcribed file. However, only business users can access these features in Copilot.

While it gets the job done, many users find Copilot a bit confusing at first glance, and it does not even differentiate speakers in the transcribed file.

Key Features of Microsoft Copilot

Copilot is more like an AI chatbot integrated with the web browser and less of a transcription tool. With Copilot, you can compose content, get summarized answers to complex questions, and even generate images. Let us check out some of the features of Microsoft Copilot:

Real-Time Transcription:

Copilot can transcribe meetings held on Microsoft Teams in real-time, though it cannot determine different speakers to understand what was said by someone. It can also summarize lengthy transcripts, but it sometimes misses important information.

Meeting Chat Analysis:

Copilot provides both the meeting chat and meeting transcript to give you a complete picture of what was said in the meeting. For example, you can ask what questions were left unanswered or missed in the meeting.

Generate Content:

Microsoft Copilot also helps you generate document drafts and emails based on user prompts. However, writing a prompt that produces quality output may require multiple attempts and can be time-consuming.

Limitations of Microsoft Copilot

Copilot is a tool that can connect with Microsoft Teams to transcribe recorded audio to text. You can playback the recordings with closed captions to review the important information. But the tool comes with its set of limitations, which makes it a less reliable choice for many users:

Clunky User Interface:

Many people think that getting access to Copilot in Teams is a bit difficult. For example, they have to go to the meeting chat, click Recap, and then click on Copilot to open a new window to start the transcription process. It is like doing a lot of work just to transcribe one meeting using Copilot.

Expensive Plans:

Microsoft Copilot is available as an add-on to Microsoft 365, which means you will need a qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription to purchase the add-on. The plan typically costs around $30 per user per month, which makes it much more expensive than the AI transcription tools.

Low Translation Accuracy:

AI chatbots are not designed for transcriptions and translations. For this reason, Copilot's translation features are less reliable, resulting in poor accuracy. On the other hand, AI speech-to-text tools like Transkriptor have a higher accuracy level of 99% for transcribing and translating into 100+ languages.

Supports Only English Language:

One thing to note is that Microsoft Copilot's transcription feature is limited to English for recorded meetings. This means you will not be able to transcribe media files if speakers speak other languages.

Hence, if your team members span the globe, you will need to look for a Microsoft Copilot alternative to transcribe Teams meetings.

Transkriptor - An Alternative to Microsoft Copilot

While Microsoft Copilot can transcribe pre-recorded files or Teams meetings, it often has limitations. For example, it involves a steeper learning curve and is expensive. That is where the need for an alternative to Microsoft Copilot comes in.

Transkriptor is an AI transcription tool that can convert speech to text with a high accuracy of 99%. It can also transcribe and translate media files into 100+ languages, including English, French, and German. The paid plan starts at only $4.99 per month and gives you access to 300 minutes of transcription.

If you would like to test the features of Transkriptor, you can start with the 90-minute free trial!