The story behind this project and how you can help
In 2014, I created a site called AskTMK.com (AskTerenceMcKenna). It was an application where people could search through Terence McKenna lectures and sign up to help transcribe talks in a crowdsourced way.
The system let you claim 1-minute "slots" to transcribe - you could be responsible for transcribing from 00:30:00 to 00:31:00. When all the slots were done, it went through a review process, and you'd end up with a complete transcript.
It was taking too long and was extremely time consuming. Let's be honest - who wants to transcribe audio or video? It's a very small group of dedicated people. Progress was slow, and the dream of making all this spoken knowledge searchable seemed far away.
Then AI transcription became good enough - sometimes even better than humans. I went all in and created Uutter. What used to take hours of human effort now takes 1-3 minutes for a 1-hour recording. It's a game changer.
This also let me expand beyond Terence McKenna to other thinkers I've always wanted to make more accessible - Alan Watts, Robert Anton Wilson, and many others. Now anyone can upload any video or audio and have it transcribed and searchable.
Uutter went live around the end of 2024, and I'm continuously working to improve it. This is still a hobby project that I run solo, and it doesn't generate any income. But my hope is that it can eventually sustain itself.
If you're interested in getting involved, you can upload audio or video talks and create collections for whoever you want. There's also a feedback collection where you can ask questions or suggest features.
Uutter keeps these archives transcribed, searchable, and free - with no ads and no paywall on listening. That has real costs: transcription compute for every new talk, and hosting and bandwidth that grow with every listener. Downloads are the biggest single expense.
Support credits cover those costs directly. They also work for downloads and AI chat on your own account, they never expire, and supporters will get early access to the Uutter mobile app beta when it opens.
If these talks matter to you, consider supporting the project. Each $1 goes straight into keeping them transcribed, searchable, and free for everyone. Credits work for downloads, AI chat, and future features.
Credits never expire. If you don't have an account yet, sign up with the same email and your credits will be added automatically.