Inlexso is preparing to launch the first local transcription service for South African legal and corporate environments. Its latest innovation, Lexi, uses AI fully trained in real-world situations such as South African courtrooms, with quality assurance by experienced court transcribers.
Andre Davids, General Manager at Inlexso, says that while AI has transformed transcription, making it faster, more accessible and more affordable than ever before, in legal and governance environments, speed alone is not enough. Where transcripts form part of court records, disciplinary proceedings or board decisions, accuracy, context and accountability remain essential.
This is the challenge Inlexso set out to solve.
For more than 20 years, Inlexso has provided legal outsourcing and advisory services to government, law firms and corporate organisations across South Africa. As an Alternative Legal Services Provider (ALSP), the company applies technology where it creates measurable business value without compromising legal integrity.
Its latest innovation, Lexi, combines AI with professional human quality assurance.
According to Davids, the objective was never simply to develop another AI transcription platform. "There are countless AI transcription platforms available today. The real question isn't whether AI can produce a transcript – it's whether that transcript can be trusted when accuracy matters. Our focus was to combine the speed of AI with the assurance that comes from legal expertise and experienced human oversight."
Built for South Africa
Through its longstanding work with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, Inlexso has developed a deep understanding of the realities of transcription in South African courts. Courtrooms are rarely controlled environments. Multiple speakers often talk simultaneously, audio quality varies and proceedings include diverse accents, legal terminology and local names.
Recognising these challenges, Inlexso developed Lexi using real South African courtroom recordings, enabling the AI to recognise local accents, terminology and contextual nuances that generic international transcription platforms often miss. "Artificial intelligence performs exceptionally well when it understands the environment in which it operates," says Davids. "South Africa presents unique linguistic and legal challenges that cannot simply be solved by applying an international model to local proceedings."
AI enhanced by human expertise
While AI delivers exceptional speed and scalability, Inlexso believes legal transcription cannot rely on automation alone. Generic AI tools remain susceptible to speaker identification errors, inaccuracies and AI hallucinations, particularly in complex legal proceedings.
For this reason, every transcript requiring evidentiary integrity is reviewed by experienced court transcribers. This hybrid approach combines AI efficiency with the judgment, contextual understanding and accountability that only trained professionals can provide.
"Our philosophy has always been that technology should enhance professional capability rather than replace it. By allowing AI to perform the repetitive work while experienced transcribers validate the final output, we deliver both efficiency and confidence."
Secure, scalable and enterprise ready
Supported by the enterprise security capabilities of Inlexso's parent company, iOCO, Lexi has been developed to meet the governance, security and compliance requirements of both public and private sector organisations.
Users can securely upload recordings through a cloud-based platform and choose between AI-generated transcripts for routine meetings or AI transcription enhanced by professional quality assurance for board meetings, arbitration hearings, disciplinary enquiries and legal proceedings where precision is essential.
Solving a growing industry challenge
Lexi also addresses a broader challenge facing the legal profession. As experienced court transcribers retire, the available skills pool continues to shrink while demand for accurate, secure and timely transcription services grows.
By combining AI with experienced legal transcription professionals, Inlexso has created a sustainable model that preserves specialist expertise while significantly improving turnaround times, consistency and scalability.
For Inlexso, Lexi represents far more than a transcription platform. It reflects the company's broader vision of combining legal expertise with technology to solve complex business challenges.
As AI continues to reshape professional services, Davids believes organisations will increasingly judge technology not by how much work it replaces, but by the confidence it creates.
Davids says the company also aims to launch translation services for South African languages alongside its Lexi AI transcription service in future.
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