I Don't Type Anymore. Here's What I Use Instead.
My full audio stack for talking instead of typing: Wispr Flow, Granola, Voice Memos, and the other voice-first tools that changed how I work.
By Mollie Amkraut Mueller · · 4 min read
A couple of months ago, I shared my visual AI stack, the tools I use to turn ideas into diagrams, slides, and images.
Today, I'm sharing the audio side: the tools that let me talk instead of type.
This shift has been huge for me. I now do most of my work by speaking. Emails, AI prompts, meeting follow-ups, even this newsletter, I'm talking my way through all of it.
Here's what's in my audio stack:
Wispr Flow (my favorite new tool)
I'll be honest: I was skeptical of paying for a dictation tool. I was already using voice memos on my phone and occasionally ChatGPT's audio mode. Why would I need another thing?
Then I tried Wispr Flow.
How it works:
You download it as an app on your computer. Hold down the Fn key, start talking, and when you release the key, Wispr Flow transcribes what you said and pastes it directly into whatever app or browser you're in. Perfect transcription. No copying and pasting required.
My old workflow wasn't bad (record into my phone, copy the transcript, paste it into ChatGPT). It wasn't hard or time-consuming. But Wispr Flow is so effortless that I was instantly hooked. Within two days, I'd blown through all my free credits and upgraded to paid. I haven't looked back.
What I use it for:
- Talking to Claude, ChatGPT, Lovable, Relay, basically any AI tool with a chat interface
- Writing emails, Slack messages, documents
- Drafting newsletters (I'm using it right now to get these thoughts on the page)
- Anywhere I used to type, I now speak
Wispr Flow also has a mobile app that works as an alternative keyboard, so you can get the same quality dictation on your phone. I find that using Wispr Flow and submitting the text to ChatGPT gives me much better results than using ChatGPT's built-in voice feature. Plus, I find those voices kind of annoying.
This is one of those tools where I've heard from multiple people: once they start using it, it's a whole new world, and they go all in fast.
Try it here (free month with my link)
Granola (my meeting note-taker)
Granola is an AI meeting assistant that joins your calls and creates transcripts and summaries automatically. You've probably heard me rave about it before, it's still my go-to for every meeting.
Why I love it:
It saves me hours every week. I use my meeting transcripts to create presentations, write follow-up emails in minutes, build project plans, and prep for future meetings. One meeting can turn into ten different deliverables.
(All of those workflows are in the AI Business Playbook, on sale now.)
Why I chose Granola over other note-takers:
The UX is clean and simple, I actually enjoy using it. And at this point, I've been on it for a year, so all my meeting history lives there. I'm locked in.
Granola (free credits with this link)
Voice Memos (the simple one)
I still use Apple's native Voice Memos app regularly.
When I use it:
When I'm out on a walk and want to capture a stream of ideas. I open Voice Memos, ramble for 10-15 minutes, then later drop that transcript into ChatGPT to organize and structure it.
I could technically do this in Wispr Flow's mobile app, but for long-form idea capture, I find it easier to just hit record and go.
Sometimes the simplest tool is the right one.
Cool Tech Worth Knowing About
These aren't core to my daily workflow, but they're impressive and worth experimenting with:
NotebookLM Audio Overviews
Google's NotebookLM can turn your notes and documents into AI-generated podcast-style conversations. I've heard students love this for learning complex concepts. I don't have a strong use case for it personally, but the technology is genuinely impressive.
ElevenLabs (voice cloning & text-to-speech)
I've dabbled with this for creating voice content. Really cool technology that I could see myself using more in the future, especially for creators who want to generate audio at scale.
Transcript-based editing in Tella
Tella is where I record my videos, and it has a feature where you can edit video by editing the transcript, delete a sentence of text, and that section of video disappears. Super intuitive for cleaning up recordings.
Audio in Lovable projects
You can add voice instructions and audio features to anything you build in Lovable. I've experimented with this before and it's exciting that anyone can add this kind of functionality to a product without code.
Final Thoughts
The shift from typing to talking has changed how I work.
I move faster. I capture more ideas. And it just feels more natural, like I'm having a conversation instead of staring at a blank page.
Here's something I didn't expect: when I use my voice to give instructions to ChatGPT or Claude or Relay, it feels like I'm talking to an executive assistant. I no longer have a human EA (I use AI for most of those tasks now), but there's something about speaking out loud versus typing that reminds me of that relationship.
It's helped me reframe how I think about these tools. They're not just software. They're more like employees. And I think that mindset shift, treating AI as your team, not your tool, is the future of how we'll all work.
If you haven't tried voice-first workflows yet, Wispr Flow is where I'd start.
And if you want to see the full system, how I turn meeting transcripts into content, how I structure AI prompts, how I've built workflows that save me 5+ hours a week, that's all in the AI Business Playbook.
Get it here: The AI Business Playbook (40% off until next week)