{"id":301545,"date":"2025-12-06T03:35:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T03:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/301545\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T03:35:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T03:35:14","slug":"i-had-a-big-audio-transcription-problem-gemini-solved-it-and-chatgpt-didnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/301545\/","title":{"rendered":"I had a big audio transcription problem \u2013 Gemini solved it, and ChatGPT didn\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"c73773f6-1ccc-4168-9cdf-4935112020af\">You know how they say, &#8220;It&#8217;s not a competition!&#8221; Well, don&#8217;t let them lie to you; everything is a competition, especially when it comes to AI. There&#8217;s rarely a day when I am not testing AI capabilities among multiple chatbots, and I am almost always surprised at the results. Some platforms really are better than others \u2013 at least for some tasks.<\/p>\n<p>This journey started with Notes on my <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/phones\/iphone\/apple-iphone-17-pro-max-review\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/phones\/iphone\/apple-iphone-17-pro-max-review\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">iPhone 17 Pro Max<\/a>. Usually, I like to record interviews on an Android smartphone like the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/phones\/google-pixel-phones\/google-pixel-10-pro-fold-review\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/phones\/google-pixel-phones\/google-pixel-10-pro-fold-review\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold,<\/a> where the fantastic Recorder app expertly captures every utterance and, in the transcription, does a deft job of separating and labeling each speaker.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-seasonal\" data-url=\"\" href=\"\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"c73773f6-1ccc-4168-9cdf-4935112020af-2\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">However, I arrived for this interview with just my iPhone. I know that buried inside Notes, an app I use obsessively across my iPhone and desktop (I have almost 2,500 notes), are audio recording capabilities hidden under the attachment icon (a paperclip).<\/p>\n<p>You may like<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Notes does a good job of recording audio, and I found my 20-minute recording perfectly captured in a note. Included was what appeared to be a useful transcription. A quick scan confirmed its accuracy, but there was a big problem: it didn&#8217;t label the speakers; everything blended into one long soliloquy. This would make it difficult to scan and pick apart my subject&#8217;s quotes from my own queries and observations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">I resigned myself to a relisten, during which I added my own labels&#8230;until I had a different thought: What if Gemini could help?<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-150be7ce-3599-48b7-80bd-f69b4035c206\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-url=\"\" href=\"\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\"\/>Gemini 3 Pro puts on its gloves<\/p>\n<p id=\"f8454c20-5008-4a96-b6bf-70a99916a313\">In recent months, I&#8217;ve been <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/ai-platforms-assistants\/gemini\/forget-the-robots-this-is-the-reason-ai-is-the-best-thing-to-happen-since-smartphone-cameras\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/ai-platforms-assistants\/gemini\/forget-the-robots-this-is-the-reason-ai-is-the-best-thing-to-happen-since-smartphone-cameras\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">impressed with Google Gemini&#8217;s capabilities<\/a>, especially the latest 3 Pro models, and how it seems to handle almost any prompt request with aplomb.<\/p>\n<p>Now that I had the idea, I had to figure out how to get Gemini to listen to the recording. Playing back the audio on my iPhone speakers and asking Gemini to listen was out because I worried about how well, say, my desktop mics might pick up the sound coming out of the iPhone speakers. Plus, I was in the office and didn&#8217;t want people to overhear the private conversation (until I published a story).<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.<\/p>\n<p>First, I found that you could download the audio file from Notes. In playback, under the three dots, there&#8217;s a Share button that lets me Airdrop the audio file to my <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/computing\/macbooks\/the-macbook-pro-14-m5-has-fixed-my-biggest-macbook-problem-and-im-never-going-back\" target=\"_blank\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/computing\/macbooks\/the-macbook-pro-14-m5-has-fixed-my-biggest-macbook-problem-and-im-never-going-back\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">14-inch MacBook Pro<\/a>. It comes down as an MPEG-4 (M4A) file.<\/p>\n<p>Back in <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/ai-platforms-assistants\/gemini\/google-gemini-3-has-dropped-here-are-6-prompts-that-show-what-it-can-do\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/ai-platforms-assistants\/gemini\/google-gemini-3-has-dropped-here-are-6-prompts-that-show-what-it-can-do\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gemini 3 Pro<\/a>, I selected the &#8220;+&#8221; sign in the prompt field, chose the M4A audio file, and added this brief prompt: &#8220;Listen to this, transcribe it and be sure to identify the different speakers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:66.44%;\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/amDQHTBbGV6JXpBMTLMzzg.jpg\" alt=\"Gemini Listen and Transcribe\"   loading=\"lazy\" data-new-v2-image=\"true\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/amDQHTBbGV6JXpBMTLMzzg.jpg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/amDQHTBbGV6JXpBMTLMzzg.jpg\" class=\"inline\"\/>\n<\/p>\n<p>(Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n<p id=\"6a2ed601-7984-46a1-805e-636ee9301370\">There was no back and forth. Germini 3 Pro quickly started spitting out the full transcript with speakers identified as &#8220;Interviewer&#8221; and the name and title of my subject. It&#8217;s worth noting here that this is the one thing Gemini 3 Pro inexplicably got completely wrong. Even though my subject spelled out his name at the end of the chat, Gemini chose a different one. Other than that, though, Gemini perfectly identified when it was me or or subject speaking. And the accuracy was truly impressive.<\/p>\n<p>You may like<\/p>\n<p>For the sake of completeness, I asked Gemini 3 Pro to correct the identification of my subject and list me as the &#8220;interviewer&#8221;. With that fixed, I happily used the transcript to help drive my full story.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-c2ae8d3b-430e-48ae-a624-5888fea612a4\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-url=\"\" href=\"\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\"\/>In this corner, ChatGPT<\/p>\n<p id=\"7656fa5a-4278-4ce3-a416-8774fd47aa82\">Naturally, though, I was curious if ChatGPT 5.1 (with a Plus account) could accomplish the same task.<\/p>\n<p>In the ChatGPT prompt window, I selected the audio file and entered the exact same prompt. ChatGPT told me, &#8220;I can definitely transcribe audio, but I can\u2019t access or play the .m4a file directly from the location you referenced.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>What followed was an extensive back-and-forth in which ChatGPT kept suggesting different ways for me to upload the file, including transforming it into a zip file. No matter what I did, ChatGPT would show the audio file in the prompt window, but it couldn&#8217;t listen to it.<\/p>\n<p>In this little competition, it seems, Gemini 3 Pro is the victor, turning a frustrating problem into an easy win. The less said about how useless <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/tag\/apple\" data-auto-tag-linker=\"true\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/tag\/apple\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Apple<\/a>&#8216;s Notes transcription is, the better.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763875814_869_hhZUEBD3xpcxphhUVzPa5G.png\" alt=\"Purple circle with the words Best business laptops in white\"   class=\"person__avatar image-wrapped__image image__image\" loading=\"lazy\" data-normal=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763875814_869_hhZUEBD3xpcxphhUVzPa5G.png\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763875814_869_hhZUEBD3xpcxphhUVzPa5G.png\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763875814_869_hhZUEBD3xpcxphhUVzPa5G.png\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" data-slice-image=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The best business laptops for all budgets<\/p>\n<p>Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons<\/p>\n<p id=\"9061e4dc-3a3a-4992-bf00-431236244741\"><a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEWFJsWTJoeVlXUmhjaTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?hl=en-GB&amp;gl=GB&amp;ceid=GB%3Aen\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEWFJsWTJoeVlXUmhjaTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?hl=en-GB&amp;gl=GB&amp;ceid=GB%3Aen\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Follow TechRadar on Google News<\/a> and <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=techradar.com\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=techradar.com\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">add us as a preferred source<\/a> to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!<\/p>\n<p>And of course you can also <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@techradar\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@techradar\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">follow TechRadar on TikTok<\/a> for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029Va6HybZ9RZAY7pIUK12h\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029Va6HybZ9RZAY7pIUK12h\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WhatsApp<\/a> too.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You know how they say, &#8220;It&#8217;s not a competition!&#8221; Well, don&#8217;t let them lie to you; everything is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-301545","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-technology","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}