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Each chapter contains the following:
  • Summary
  • One-line gist
  • Headline
  • Start and end timestamps

​
Auto Chapters and Summarization

You can only enable one of the Auto Chapters and Summarization models in the same transcription.

​
Quickstart

Enable Auto Chapters by setting auto_chapters to true in the transcription config. punctuate must be enabled to use Auto Chapters (punctuate is enabled by default). 
import assemblyai as aai

aai.settings.api_key = "YOUR_API_KEY"

# audio_file = "./local_file.mp3"
audio_file = "https://assembly.ai/wildfires.mp3"

config = aai.TranscriptionConfig(auto_chapters=True)

transcript = aai.Transcriber().transcribe(audio_file, config)

for chapter in transcript.chapters:
  print(f"{chapter.start}-{chapter.end}: {chapter.headline}")

import { AssemblyAI } from 'assemblyai'

const client = new AssemblyAI({
  apiKey: 'YOUR_API_KEY'
})

// const audioFile = './local_file.mp3'
const audioFile =
  'https://assembly.ai/wildfires.mp3'

const params = {
  audio: audioFile,
  auto_chapters: true
}

const run = async () => {
  const transcript = await client.transcripts.transcribe(params)

  for (const chapter of transcript.chapters!) {
    console.log(`${chapter.start}-${chapter.end}: ${chapter.headline}`)
  }
}

run()

package main

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"

    aai "github.com/AssemblyAI/assemblyai-go-sdk"
)

func main() {
    client := aai.NewClient("YOUR_API_KEY")

    // For local files see our Getting Started guides.
    audioURL := "https://assembly.ai/wildfires.mp3"

    ctx := context.Background()

    transcript, _ := client.Transcripts.TranscribeFromURL(ctx, audioURL, &aai.TranscriptOptionalParams{
        AutoChapters: aai.Bool(true),
    })

    for _, chapter := range transcript.Chapters {
        fmt.Printf("%d-%d: %s",
            aai.ToInt64(chapter.Start),
            aai.ToInt64(chapter.End),
            aai.ToString(chapter.Headline),
        )
    }
}

import com.assemblyai.api.AssemblyAI;
import com.assemblyai.api.resources.transcripts.types.*;

public final class App {
    public static void main(String[] args) {

        AssemblyAI client = AssemblyAI.builder()
                .apiKey("YOUR_API_KEY")
                .build();

        // For local files see our Getting Started guides.
        String audioUrl = "https://assembly.ai/wildfires.mp3";

        var params = TranscriptOptionalParams.builder()
                .autoChapters(true)
                .build();

        Transcript transcript = client.transcripts().transcribe(audioUrl, params);

        var chapters = transcript.getChapters().get();

        chapters.forEach(chapter -> {
            System.out.println(chapter.getStart() + " - " + chapter.getEnd() + ": " +chapter.getHeadline());
        });
    }
}

using AssemblyAI;
using AssemblyAI.Transcript;

var client = new AssemblyAIClient("YOUR_API_KEY");

var transcript = await client.Transcripts.TranscribeAsync(new TranscriptParams
{
    // For local files see our Getting Started guides.
    AudioUrl = "https://assembly.ai/wildfires.mp3",
    AutoChapters = true
});

foreach (var chapter in transcript.Chapters!)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"{chapter.Start}-{chapter.End}: {chapter.Headline}");
}

require 'assemblyai'

client = AssemblyAI::Client.new(api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY')

# For local files see our Getting Started guides.
audio_url = 'https://assembly.ai/wildfires.mp3'

transcript = client.transcripts.transcribe(
  audio_url: audio_url,
  auto_chapters: true
)

transcript.chapters.each do |chapter|
  printf(
    '%<start>d-%<end>d: %<headline>s',
    start: chapter.start,
    end: chapter.end_,
    headline: chapter.headline
  )
end

​
Example output

250-28840: Smoke from hundreds of wildfires in Canada is triggering air quality alerts across US
29610-280340: High particulate matter in wildfire smoke can lead to serious health problems

​
API reference

​
Request

curl https://api.assemblyai.com/v2/transcript \
--header "Authorization: YOUR_API_KEY" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--data '{
  "audio_url": "YOUR_AUDIO_URL",
  "auto_chapters": true
}'
KeyTypeDescription
auto_chaptersbooleanEnable Auto Chapters.

​
Response

{
  "chapters": [
    {
      "gist": "...",
      "headline": "...",
      "summary": "...",
      "start": 0,
      "end": 0
    }
  ]
}
KeyTypeDescription
chaptersarrayAn array of temporally sequential chapters for the audio file.
chapters[i].giststringAn short summary in a few words of the content spoken in the i-th chapter.
chapters[i].headlinestringA single sentence summary of the content spoken during the i-th chapter.
chapters[i].summarystringA one paragraph summary of the content spoken during the i-th chapter.
chapters[i].startnumberThe starting time, in milliseconds, for the i-th chapter.
chapters[i].endnumberThe ending time, in milliseconds, for the i-th chapter.
The response also includes the request parameters used to generate the transcript.

​
Frequently asked questions

No, the number of chapters generated by the Auto Chapters model isn’t configurable by the user. The model automatically segments the audio file into logical chapters as the topic of conversation changes.

​
Troubleshooting

One possible reason is that the audio file doesn’t contain enough variety in topic or tone for the model to identify separate chapters. Another reason could be due to background noise or low-quality audio interfering with the model’s analysis.