Disclaimer: This article was AI generated from my YouTube video transcript.
To get really good results out of AI, you have to give it a lot of context and information. That usually means sitting there typing out massive paragraphs into your prompts. But as humans, typing isn’t our natural way of communicating - speaking is. For the past four months I’ve barely had to type anything. I just speak into my computer, whether it’s an email, a message or an AI prompt.
In this article I’ll show you the exact tool I use, how to get set up, and why it’s different to traditional transcription methods. The tool is Whisper Flow, and to be clear up front: I have no relationship with them whatsoever. It’s just a tool I genuinely use every day. This is not a paid promotion.
Why speaking beats typing
The numbers make the case on their own. The average person types at around 45 words per minute. Speaking sits closer to 220 words per minute - almost five times faster. When you spend as much time as I do writing emails, proposals and AI prompts that need a lot of context, getting that time back is hugely valuable.
It also changes how I work with AI. Instead of typing everything out and forgetting half the detail along the way, I can just brain dump everything I’m thinking. The result is a far richer prompt, and far better output at the end of it.
How it works
Using it couldn’t be simpler. I press Ctrl + Windows and start talking. Whisper Flow transcribes what I say and drops it straight into whatever text field I’m in. For example, I can say something like: “I need to draft a new marketing plan. I’ve got an additional $5,000 a month and I’m not sure where to spend it between Google Ads and paid influencers - can you research my company, Harkness AI, and work out what’s best?” - and it lands in my prompt ready to go.
The best part is that it isn’t tied to one app or device. It works anywhere there’s a text input field - in Chrome, in a desktop app, anywhere. All it’s doing is transcribing your speech and pasting it in. You can do the same on your mobile, iPhone or Android, across any of your apps. It’s genuinely universal.
Getting set up
Setup is quick. Create a free account, download it onto the device of your choice, and you’re away. The free tier gives you around 2,000 words per week with zero data retention, which is a nice touch for anyone privacy-conscious. If you need more, the paid plan is about USD 16 a month, which is very cheap for what you get.
Once it’s installed, you just press Ctrl + Windows in any text field and start talking. It’s smart about formatting too. When I dictated a quick email - “Hey Jim, just reaching out to make sure the products got to you on time. If there are any issues or questions, let me know. Cheers.” - it structured it properly, kept the sign-off on its own line, and even fixed a word I’d mispronounced, because it recognised it was writing an email rather than one big blob of text.
The features that make it stick
The accuracy is really good out of the box, but a handful of features are what turned it into a daily tool for me.
- Custom dictionary: If it keeps mis-transcribing a word - say a product name like one of ours, Digi Core - you can add the correct spelling to the dictionary and it gets it right from then on. There’s also a clever bit of context handling: it learns whether I mean “Xero” the financial platform or the number “zero”. A little star next to a word means it learned that correction automatically. The more you use it and tidy up the odd mistake, the smarter it gets.
- Snippets: You can assign a long piece of text to a short phrase. I’ve got my LinkedIn URL and my email address saved, so when I say “LinkedIn URL” in an email it pastes the full link in. Handy for anything you don’t want to say out loud or memorise.
- Transforms: Highlight a section of text you’ve already written or dictated and it’ll reshape it for you. You can polish it, or optimise it as an AI prompt. I’ve mapped “polish” to Windows + Alt + 1, and it cleans up and restructures the text without me having to copy and paste it into a separate tool. You can build your own transforms based on your work messages and writing style too.
- Scratchpad notes: Hit Windows + Alt + S and a little notepad pops up that you can talk straight into. Great for quick notes when you’d rather speak than type.
Communication is such an important skill, and we waste so much time converting what’s in our heads into typed notes, emails and documents. A tool like Whisper Flow gives that time back, and it’s been especially powerful for working with AI, which needs all that context to produce really good results.
I’m Blake, an AI engineer based in New Zealand who has helped over 25 businesses across NZ and Australia with AI transformation and delivered real results. If you’re unsure where AI actually fits into your business, or you feel overwhelmed by all the tools out there, reach out for a free 30-minute chat. Cheers.
