The ghostwriter of Paul Gascoigne’s autobiography has revealed that she had to transcribe their chats by hand because AI couldn’t understand his thick Geordie accent.
Victoria Williams, who wrote Gascoigne’s autobiography Eight, turned to technology to help streamline the arduous transcription process, only to discover that the former England star was unintelligible to the software.
Regular mistakes were delivered by AI, which noted “hide” as “hate” and “lies” as “lawyers” among a plethora of inaccurate translations.
“I wasn’t hugely surprised that the AI tools failed,” Williams said.
“They’re never perfect, and Paul hasn’t lost his trademark Geordie accent. It’s as strong as ever, despite the fact he hasn’t lived in the North East since 2014.”
Williams, hailing from Cullercoats, North Tyneside, was forced to replay all the recordings and transcribe each word herself to ensure she didn’t publish something “Gazza” never said.
“At first, I felt overwhelmed by the task of having to listen back to hours and hours of interviews,” she added. “But once I started, it really helped to get a feel for his voice, in a way I wouldn’t otherwise have done.
“Listening to Paul talk about his life for a second time, and hearing the raw emotion in his words, it improved the book. Paul was uninhibited, he didn’t sugar-coat anything, he just told me it was really important for him to be truthful about his life.
“To be fair, the AI tools did a decent job of picking up the bulk of what Paul told me, the transcript just wasn’t accurate enough to work from. I’m not a Geordie myself, but have lived in the North East for many years, so luckily I didn’t struggle with his accent.”
Eight, a title which refers to the iconic shirt number that Gascoigne wore, was released on 23 October and explores the personal life behind the footballer, including his battles with addiction.
