Is “reliable AI transcription” actually real yet, or is it still inconsistent in real use?

I’ve been testing different ways to convert audio to text online for work stuff like meetings, interviews, and voice notes.

And I’m honestly starting to wonder if we’re actually at the point where AI transcription is truly reliable, or if it still depends too much on the situation.

When the audio is clean and structured, most tools perform pretty well. But in real-world conditions like background noise, overlapping speech, or uneven mic quality, the results start to vary a lot. Sometimes it’s usable right away, other times it needs almost a full cleanup.

That inconsistency is what makes it hard to trust any of them fully for actual work.

Curious what others here think. Are you relying on any tool consistently, or are they all still “use with caution” in practice?