Capturing the Moment: The Art of Live Captioning

It takes a highly skilled stenographer — and some specialized equipment — to transcribe TV dialogue in real time at 300 words per minute. Will A.I. rewrite the script? Zachary Crockett tries to keep up.

• SOURCES:
  • Doug Karlovits, general manager at Verbit.
  • Katie Ryan, live steno captioner at Verbit.

• RESOURCES:
  • "The Long Case for Machine Shorthand," by Sam Corbin (New York Times, 2024).
  • "Caption This: Why Subtitling Is Big Business Amid the Content Boom," by Kirsten Chuba (The Hollywood Reporter, 2023).
  • "Everyone Watches TV with Subtitles Now. How’d That Happen?" by Wilson Chapman (IndieWire, 2023).
  • "When is Captioning Required?" (National Association of the Deaf).