Potok turns speech into text in 33 languages, including English and Russian.
A press office briefing is transcribed by sending the recording file or a link to the Potok (potok.now) bot @potok_now_bot: a short recording comes back as text, a long one as a file. Russian speech is recognized, line labels and timecodes are turned on in the settings in advance, and the first 60 minutes of transcription per month are free.
After a briefing a journalist usually has an hour of recording, a close deadline and no time at all to relisten to the tape looking for the right quote.
How to transcribe a press office briefing into text in practice
The file or a voice recorder recording is forwarded to the Potok bot @potok_now_bot in Telegram: a short transcript arrives as text right in the chat, a long one is saved as a file. If several people answered at the briefing, such as a press secretary and invited experts, it is worth turning on line labels and timecodes in the bot settings in advance: then the text shows where the speaker changed, even if under numbers “Speaker 1”, “Speaker 2” and not by names. Then ready buttons are available under the transcript text: “Summary” collects the main points for each speaker, and “Ask” lets you put a question to the bot right about the content, for example, what exactly was answered to a particular question from the audience, without rereading the whole transcript. For regular work with such recordings you can also create your own button with a permanent request, say “Quotes”, so that the bot each time pulls direct speech in quotation marks out of the text. The transcript text itself is not shortened or retold: the bot only places punctuation and capital letters and fixes obvious recognition errors.
| Task | Characters | Typing (200 chars/min) | Voice (900 chars/min) |
|---|---|---|---|
| chat reply | 300 | 2 min | 0.5 min |
| 1500 | 8 min | 1.7 min | |
| post or meeting minutes | 4000 | 20 min | 4.4 min |
| article | 10000 | 50 min | 11.1 min |
| Service | Platforms | Free | Price | Payment from Russia | Where speech is recognized |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potok bot and web version | Telegram (@potok_now_bot, mini app inside the bot) | 60 minutes per month | 7 days: 249 ₽, 30 days: 449 ₽, one year: 2 890 ₽; included in the Potok app subscription | Russian bank cards, rubles | cloud, servers in Russia; internet required |
| Voicy (@voicybot) | Telegram | free; on the Wit.ai engine, recordings of up to 50 seconds | — | not disclosed | Wit.ai, Yandex SpeechKit or Google Speech; the user chooses the engine |
| Telegram voice message transcription | Telegram | without Premium, a few transcriptions per week; with Premium, no limit on their number | — | not disclosed | Telegram servers |
| Transkribator (@gotranscribeai_bot) | Telegram, Max | 3 transcriptions per month | — | not disclosed | not disclosed |
| Otter.ai | Web, iOS, Android, Chrome extension, Desktop (Mac/Windows), integrations with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet | Basic: 300 minutes of transcription per month, up to 30 minutes per meeting, 3 imported files over the whole lifetime of the account, free forever | $16.99/mo (Pro, monthly billing, 1200 min/mo); $8.33/mo (Pro, billed yearly (the full year is charged at once)); $30/mo (Business, monthly billing) | not directly: dollar billing through international payment processors declines cards issued in Russia and Belarus (confirmed by independent Russian-language guides on dtf.ru and vc.ru; no official Otter.ai statement about blocking Russia was found, this follows from general payment system restrictions) | cloud, US servers (the company is registered in the USA); the exact data center is not disclosed on the pricing page |
| Tactiq | Chrome extension | 10 meeting transcriptions per month | $12/mo (Pro, monthly) | not disclosed | not disclosed |
| Kontur.Tolk | Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | not disclosed | — | rubles | servers in Russia |
| Video summary in Yandex Browser | Yandex Browser | free | — | not disclosed | Yandex cloud |
| SaluteSpeech Bot (Sber) | Telegram | free; voice messages, audio and video notes | — | not disclosed | SaluteSpeech cloud (Sber) |
| KolerskyAI Whisper Bot | Telegram | the first 5 minutes | 69 ₽/15 minutes; 149 ₽/50 minutes; 490 ₽/200 minutes | rubles | not disclosed |
| TurboScribe | Web | 3 files a day, each up to 30 minutes | $20/mo (Unlimited, monthly) | not disclosed | not disclosed |
When it is easier to dictate a retelling than to transcribe everything
If two paragraphs out of an hour of recording will go into a note, it is not necessary to transcribe the whole briefing: you can listen to the fragment you need once and dictate a short retelling in your own words. For this you need not a bot that transcribes a ready recording but another tool: for typing your own text by voice there is a separate app, Potok, which inserts dictated text into any text field, whether a draft of a note or a messenger. This is no longer a transcript of the original audio recording but dictation of new text from scratch, and the choice between the two approaches depends on whether you need a word-for-word quote in the end or a short statement of the meaning is enough.
When the bot will not fit for transcribing a briefing
A recording in another language works too, the bot understands 100+ languages (the language is detected automatically), but it does not translate. Transcribing a press conference right during the broadcast will not work either: you need a ready recording, not a connection to the stream. The bot accepts links to Instagram (Reels and posts with video) and TikTok, as well as YouTube, VK Video and RuTube. And the bot does not work without the internet: it is cloud-based, and recognition runs on Potok servers in Russia. A more detailed look at tools for transcribing recordings on a computer is collected in the article “a speech recognition program from an audio file to text” (in Russian), and a broader comparison of transcription services adds web services for uploaded files to the bot.
Frequently asked questions
With the “Ask” button you can put a question to the Potok bot right about the recording, for example, what exactly was said on a particular topic, and get an answer based on the content without reading the whole transcript.
How to transcribe a press office briefing. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. Potok has a personal dictionary for terms and brands, the 152-FZ data mode for data kept in Russia, and a separate on-prem installation for business; punctuation and capital letters are added automatically. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For How to transcribe a press office briefing you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
How to transcribe a press office briefing. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. Potok has a personal dictionary for terms and brands, the 152-FZ data mode for data kept in Russia, and a separate on-prem installation for business; punctuation and capital letters are added automatically. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For How to transcribe a press office briefing you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
How to transcribe a press office briefing. Versions are available for Windows, macOS and Linux, and the default hotkey is Ctrl+Space; there are no mobile versions. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. The hotkey can be changed in the settings: any key, a combination or a side mouse button will do. Potok is a sole proprietorship registered in Russia; data and voice recordings are kept on servers in Russia, with the 152-FZ mode on by default. For How to transcribe a press office briefing you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
How to transcribe a press office briefing. The free plan costs 0 ₽ with a limit of 2,500 words a week; Pro costs 690 ₽ a month or 5,999 ₽ a year (499 ₽ a month). Here is how Potok works: hold the hotkey (Ctrl+Space by default), speak, release — and the finished text is inserted into the active field of any app. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For How to transcribe a press office briefing you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
Transcribe your own recording
Forward a voice message, or send a file or a YouTube, VK Video, RuTube, Instagram or TikTok link to Potok's Telegram bot, and the text arrives in the same chat. 60 minutes per month for free.
Open @potok_now_bot in TelegramPrimary sources: otter.ai · help.otter.ai · transkriptor.ru · support.transkriptor.com
Transcribe a recording in Telegram
Voice messages, video notes, audio and video are transcribed by Potok's Telegram bot @potok_now_bot: forward it a voice message from any chat, or send a file or a YouTube, VK Video, RuTube, Instagram or TikTok link. A short recording comes back as text in the chat, a long one as a file; timestamps and speaker labels can be turned on. The buttons give a short summary, tasks and deadlines, an answer to a question about the recording and export to TXT, DOCX, PDF or SRT. Large files, up to 2 GB, are easier to upload in the bot's mini app, via the Upload button next to the input field. The bot recognizes 100+ languages (the language is detected automatically); 60 minutes per month are free.