AI screen summarizer for Mac
Updated November 3, 2026
An AI screen summarizer is an app that captures what's playing on your screen together with its audio, and writes a summary from both: what was said and what was shown. Screen Gist is one for the Mac. Pick a window or your whole screen, press Start, and press Stop; you get a timestamped summary with the slides, code, charts and numbers that were on screen, the full transcript, and answers to questions about it.
How to do it
Pick what to summarize
A window, an app or the whole screen, in the standard macOS picker. Or drop in a video or audio file.
Press Start and keep watching
It listens to the sound and reads each new slide or screen as it changes, at about $0.42 an hour.
Press Stop and read the gist
An overview, timestamped chapters or meeting minutes, the transcript and what was on screen.
What it understands that other tools miss
Most AI summarizers read a transcript: the words that were spoken. In lectures, demos, webinars and screen shares, much of what matters is never said out loud: the formula on the slide, the number on the chart, the line of code being changed. Screen Gist listens and reads the screen, so those details are in the summary. In our one-minute example call, listening alone caught 0 of 13 on-screen details; Screen Gist kept almost all of them.
What you can summarize
- Lectures and online courses, including Coursera, Udemy, edX, Panopto and university portals behind a login.
- Webinars, trainings and demos, where the shared screen is the content.
- Calls on Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams, with no bot joining.
- Any video: YouTube, conference talks, recordings and files.
How it compares
Link summarizers need a public link with captions. Meeting note-takers are built for calls. Screen-memory apps record everything you do. Screen Gist summarizes what you choose to watch, from any app, and keeps only the text. See the full comparison.
Questions
Is there an AI that watches my screen and summarizes what I'm watching?
Yes. Screen Gist captures a window or your screen on a Mac, with its audio, and writes a timestamped summary that includes what was shown, not just what was said.
Can AI summarize a screen recording?
Yes. Drop a screen recording into Screen Gist, or record the screen live. It transcribes the speech and reads the screen, then writes chapters with what was shown.
What's the difference between an AI screen summarizer and a meeting note-taker?
A meeting note-taker works on calls and mostly summarizes the conversation. An AI screen summarizer works on anything playing on your screen and reads the picture too: slides, code, charts and on-screen text.
Does it keep my recordings?
No recording is saved. Audio and what's on your screen are sent to cloud AI to write the summary and aren't stored by Screen Gist; only the text stays on your Mac.
Does it work offline?
No. Speech-to-text and summaries run in the cloud for accuracy. Audio is sent while you record and isn't kept.
Try it
Download Screen Gist for your Mac. Every new Mac gets its first hour of video free, with no card needed.
First hour free, no card needed. For a Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or later) running macOS 26 or later.