AI Note-taking tools can help meeting organizers summarize and share information, but it is up to individuals to configure them properly. 

How This Happens

If you attend a meeting with an AI note-taking bot present, after the meeting you may receive an email from the note-taking tool with a link to the transcript. This may lead to an invitation (or mandate) to create an account to access the meeting transcript. 

Depending on how you respond to the account creation prompts, you may inadvertently grant the note-taking tool full access to the meetings on your calendar, with the direction to auto-join meetings.

What Hosts can do About Uninvited Note-Taking AI Tools

At Cornell, AI tools which join as an external participant to record a meeting will be placed in the lobby and should not be able to join unless admitted by the organizer or a presenter. As a host, you can deny entry to these tools and protect your group’s privacy.

If you notice an uninvited note-taking bot has joined your meeting, ask the owner to stop recording, or remove the bot like you would any uninvited guest. (Here are instructions for Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet.)

Deny a Note-taking Tool Access to Your Account

If you need to sign in to a tool to receive a transcript, pay close attention to the prompts offered to you. Do not use your Microsoft or Google account credentials as your login ID and password. 

Check Your Microsoft Account for Unwanted Tools

Go to My Apps and review what applications have permission to access your account. You can sometimes revoke access by deleting the app. OtterAI, Fireflies, and ReadAI have additional steps to delete an account that you didn’t mean to make.

If you find the note-taking tool useful, then log in to your account and make sure that it does not have permission to automatically record meetings on your calendar. OtterAI, Fireflies, and ReadAI have easy-to-follow documentation explaining your options.