PII Redaction

Personal Identifiable Information (PII) Redaction is an AI model that is used to automatically remove sensitive information that can be used to uniquely identify an individual from your transcript text.

Quickstart

When submitting files for transcription, include the redact_pii parameter in your request body and set it to true, as well as the required parameter redact_pii_policies, listing all policies that should be redacted.

You can also view the full source code here.

All policies supported by the model

With PII Redaction, the API can automatically remove Personally Identifiable Information (PII) such as phone numbers and social security numbers from the transcription text before it is returned. The redacted text will replace any sensitive information with "#" characters.

Below is a table that lists all the available PII redaction policies and their descriptions:

Policy name	Description
medical_process	Medical process, including treatments, procedures, and tests (e.g., heart surgery, CT scan)
medical_condition	Name of a medical condition, disease, syndrome, deficit, or disorder (e.g., chronic fatigue syndrome, arrhythmia, depression)
blood_type	Blood type (e.g., O-, AB positive)
drug	Medications, vitamins, or supplements (e.g., Advil, Acetaminophen, Panadol)
injury	Bodily injury (e.g., I broke my arm, I have a sprained wrist)
number_sequence	A "lazy" rule that will redact any sequence of numbers equal to or greater than 2
email_address	Email address (e.g., support@assemblyai.com)
date_of_birth	Date of Birth (e.g., Date of Birth: March 7,1961)
phone_number	Telephone or fax number
us_social_security_number	Social Security Number or equivalent
credit_card_number	Credit card number
credit_card_expiration	Expiration date of a credit card
credit_card_cvv	Credit card verification code (e.g., CVV: 080)
date	Specific calendar date (e.g., December 18)
nationality	Terms indicating nationality, ethnicity, or race (e.g., American, Asian, Caucasian)
event	Name of an event or holiday (e.g., Olympics, Yom Kippur)
language	Name of a natural language (e.g., Spanish, French)
location	Any Location reference including mailing address, postal code, city, state, province, or country
money_amount	Name and/or amount of currency (e.g., 15 pesos, $94.50)
person_name	Name of a person (e.g., Bob, Doug Jones)
person_age	Number associated with an age (e.g., 27, 75)
organization	Name of an organization (e.g., CNN, McDonalds, University of Alaska)
political_affiliation	Terms referring to a political party, movement, or ideology (e.g., Republican, Liberal)
occupation	Job title or profession (e.g., professor, actors, engineer, CPA)
religion	Terms indicating religious affiliation (e.g., Hindu, Catholic)
drivers_license	Driver’s license number (e.g., DL# 356933-540)
banking_information	Banking information, including account and routing numbers

In addition to the redact_pii_policies parameter, users can also use the redact_pii_sub parameter to further customize PII redaction. This parameter allows users to specify the exact text substrings to be redacted, regardless of the PII policy being used.

Value	Description
redact_pii_sub.hash	PII that is detected is replaced with a hash - #. For example, I'm calling for John is replaced with ####. (Applied by default)
redact_pii_sub.entity_name	PII that is detected is replaced with the associated policy name. For example, John is replaced with [PERSON_NAME]. This is recommended for readability.

Create a redacted audio file

In addition to redacting sensitive information from the transcription text, the API can also generate a version of the original audio file with the PII "beeped" out when it is being spoken. To do so, include the redact_pii_audio parameter in your request when submitting files for transcription.

When the transcription is complete, you can retrieve a URL that points to your redacted audio file by making a request to the following API endpoint:

Using webhooks

Webhooks allow you to receive real-time updates about the status of your PII redacted audio file.

If a webhook_url was provided in your request when submitting your audio file for transcription, we will send a POST request to the URL.

1. 1

   When you receive the request from AssemblyAI, it will include the following headers.

   content-type: application/json
   content-length: 79
   accept: */*
   accept-encoding: gzip, deflate
   user-agent: python-requests/2.21.0
2. 2

   And the request body will include the following parameters.

   status: 'redacted_audio_ready'
   redacted_audio_url: 'https://link-to-redacted-audio'

   The status field indicates whether the PII redaction was completed successfully or if there was an error. The redacted_audio_url field contains a URL to the redacted audio file.

Troubleshooting

Why is the PII not redacted in my transcription?

PII only redacts words under the text key. When PII is enabled together with other features such as Entity Detection and Summarization, PII can still show up in the entities or summary key. Ensure that the redact_pii_policies parameter is included in your request with the desired policy names. If you're still experiencing issues, please reach out to our support team for assistance.

Why is my webhook not being sent?

There could be several reasons why your webhook isn't being sent, such as a misconfigured URL, an unreachable endpoint, or an issue with the authentication headers. Double-check your request and ensure that the webhook_url parameter is included with a valid URL that can be reached by AssemblyAI's API. If you're using custom authentication headers, ensure that the webhook_auth_header_name and webhook_auth_header_value parameters are included and are correct. If you're still having issues, please contact our support team for assistance.