Speech-to-Text Made Me Realize I Think Better When I Write

I came to two unexpected conclusions after using speech to text AI for everything from coding to emails over the last few months:

1. Our physical spaces are not built for people constantly speaking. They are built for silence. Open offices work well because we assume people won’t speak most of the time. For speech to text to really become mainstream, it needs to become 10x better than writing, so much better that we are willing to change our physical spaces to benefit from it.

Does that mean fewer open offices? I don’t know, but it’s very hard to use STT tools 90% of the time in current office designs. I am not talking about speaking to your phone or computer occasionally to ask for a reminder, but using STT as the main form of input.

2. I think well when I write, not when I speak. This was unexpected and surprising to me. After many years of writing everything from code to presentations to emails, my thoughts flow well when I write. But I find myself stuck when I try to speak the same thoughts. Writing and thinking is very natural and free flowing for me. It’s effortless. I just write as I think, and sure sometimes my thoughts are faster than I can type, but the thoughts are flowing only because I am writing.

When I start speaking, I usually get stuck. Is it just me? Will the next generation who enters the workforce now only speak to their computers, so their thoughts will naturally flow better when they speak? I’m not sure. But for me, as of today, writing is more creative and free-flowing.

STT AI has become incredibly powerful and accurate over the last few months. So if you haven’t tried them in a while, you’d be surprised how far the tech has come.

Would love to know your thoughts if you’ve been using speech to text.