Can't convert an audio file (.m4a) to a transcript

I asked ChatGPT to convert an audio file into a transcript. I began by asking Chat how to do it. It gave ne the following instructions which I followed to the letter.

"Great question — here’s the short, clear answer:

✅ To get me to transcribe audio for you:

All you need to do is upload the audio file directly in this chat (MP3, WAV, M4A, etc.).As soon as the file is uploaded, just say “Please transcribe this” — and I will generate the transcript.

📌 Important notes:

You do not need special formatting or commands.
You do not need to cut or copy the audio — just upload the file itself.
If the file is long, I can do a full transcript or a summarized version if you prefer.
If you want timestamps, speaker labels, or a cleaned-up transcript, just ask.

Example:

You: [Upload audio file]“Please transcribe this with timestamps every 30 seconds.”

I’ll take care of the rest.

If you want, you can try by uploading your audio file now. "

After I followed the above instructions I recieved the below message. I tried mulitplple time to no avail. Can anyone help me hack this problem.

It looks like the audio file was uploaded as a general file into the sandbox, not as an audio attachment, and I cannot run speech-to-text transcription from the Python environment (because Python here has no audio-to-text libraries and I cannot invoke the model’s built-in audio transcription on files stored only in /mnt/data).

✅ How to fix this so I can transcribe it

Please re-upload the audio file directly into the chat as an audio message — the same way you would attach a photo or voice note.

When you upload it that way, my built-in transcription will work instantly.

👉 After re-uploading, simply say:

“Please transcribe this.”

I will then produce a full, accurate transcript.

7 comments