The dangers of AI notetaker apps

No, your notetaker isn’t allowed in this meeting. I can’t believe I have to say that.

If the meeting could end in someone losing their job, it shouldn’t start with a recording.

Let me give you a “hypothetical” example that has definitely never happened in real life. It’ll make your blood run cold.

Someone misses a meeting because they have a very good (and legally protected) excuse. After the meeting, the automatic notetaker sends out the recording and transcript to everyone on the invite, including her. 

That night, she opens the recording to catch up on what she missed. She searches the transcript for her name, assuming that they would mention her when discussing her department.

She finds... let’s call it “an insensitive comment about a protected trait.” Followed by some other stuff that might not have sounded really, really bad if it hadn’t followed the insensitive comment. 

This isn't gossip overheard from a bathroom stall. There's a recording.

The point isn’t that you should never say anything that can be misconstrued. That’s an impossible standard. 

The point is that a notetaker has no place in some conversations.

There are rooms where the only people allowed are the ones who understand what can’t be repeated. 

Like the weekly HR team meeting. 

ESPECIALLY when you’re planning a layoff. 

Everybody knows that, right?

RIGHT?!

“Can whoever brought the notetaker please turn it off?” I said before we got down to business.

“Oh, that’s me,” the new person said.

I waited for her to turn it off.

“It helps me keep track of what was discussed,” she said. Without turning it off.

“We’re going to discuss some really sensitive things in this meeting,” I said. “We need to talk frankly. I think we owe the people we’re discussing the dignity of not recording our conversation.”

“It’s an accommodation,” she said sanctimoniously. "I have a disability."

A reasonable accommodation can't eliminate an essential function of the job. You can't hire a blind man to drive a school bus.

Anyone in HR should know that.

It’s their JOB to know that.

Bringing a notetaker into a layoff planning meeting isn’t "reasonable." It’s irresponsible.

I wanted to (but did not) say, “Notetakers have only been around for a few years. You’re over 40. What’s wrong with the paper and pencil you used for most of your career?” 

Instead I pulled rank. 

As meeting host, Zoom had bestowed great powers upon me. I used them wisely. I removed the damned notetaker myself. 

Some meetings require confidentiality. That isn’t exclusion. It’s risk management.

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