How accurate is AI transcription of voice notes, and how do I fix mistakes?
There is no single accuracy number worth trusting, because results swing with your microphone, background noise, accent, and how many names and technical terms you use. Sentio transcribes with OpenAI speech-to-text and does not publish an accuracy percentage, so treat the transcript as a strong first draft. You can correct it by editing the note text and by adding hard words to your custom vocabulary so later recordings get them right.
Last reviewed October 22, 2026
Why one accuracy figure would mislead you
A quiet room and a headset microphone is a different problem from a car with the windows down. Speech recognition gets harder with overlapping voices, distance from the microphone, heavy background noise, and words the model has rarely seen, such as a founder name or a product code. OpenAI's own speech-to-text guide, which we read for this page, gives usage advice and limits but no accuracy figure for you to plan around. Any app that quotes a single percentage for "voice notes" is averaging over conditions that are not yours.
What goes wrong first
In practice the plain words are usually fine and the proper nouns are not. Expect trouble with names of people and companies, acronyms, product names, numbers, dates, and homophones. These are also the words that matter most in a task list, so a transcript that reads smoothly can still send "Priya" to the wrong person or turn "the 15th" into "the 50th". Skim for those categories first instead of rereading every sentence.
How to fix mistakes in Sentio
There are three levers. First, edit the note: the edit button opens the note text in an editor, and saving stores your corrected version. The original transcript is kept separately and shown in a collapsible Transcript section, so you can always compare against what the model heard. Second, add words under Settings, Vocabulary: custom words are sent to the transcription engine as words to recognize, which helps with names, acronyms and product terms on later recordings. Vocabulary does not retroactively rewrite notes you already saved. Third, change how you record, described below.
Recording habits that reduce errors
Hold the microphone close, pause between topics, and spell out the one word you know will be misheard, such as a surname, right after you say it. State numbers and dates in full ("March fifteenth," not just "the fifteenth"). If a recording is a long mix of topics, record two shorter notes instead, because a mistake early on is easier to catch in a short transcript. None of this guarantees a perfect result, but it removes the most common causes of the errors you would otherwise be hunting for.
Common questions
Does Sentio publish a transcription accuracy percentage?
No. We do not have a benchmark we can stand behind for your recording conditions, so we do not quote one. Transcription runs on OpenAI speech-to-text, and the practical advice is to review names, numbers and dates.
Can I edit the transcript after it is saved?
You can edit the note text and title and save your changes. The original transcript stays available in a separate collapsible section for comparison.
Will adding a custom word fix notes I already recorded?
No. Custom vocabulary is passed to the transcription engine at transcription time, so it helps new recordings. For an existing note, edit the text directly.
Do mistakes in the transcript affect the action items?
Yes. Summaries and action items are generated from the transcript, so a misheard name or date can carry into them. Check the list against the transcript before you act on it.
Related: Voice memo to action items
Join the waitlist