Work · the silent attendee
AI in your meetings
30-second gist~30s read
Most video-call platforms — Teams, Zoom, Google Meet — now have an AI that can transcribe, summarise, and draft action items. Some join uninvited if a colleague's calendar is set up to send theirs along. They are quiet. They take notes. They remember.
You're allowed to ask them to step out. A lot of people don't realise that.
If you want more
What gets recorded
- The transcript. Every word, attributed to a speaker.
- Action items — surprisingly accurate.
- "Sentiment" on some platforms — flagged as supportive, sceptical, etc.
- A summary shared automatically with attendees, sometimes with their managers, sometimes more widely.
For internal meetings on the company tenant, this is bound by your organisation's data policies. For mixed meetings (external partners, client calls), the recording can sit on a different tenant than you expect.
When to switch the AI off
- HR conversations — pay, performance, complaints.
- Negotiations where you don't want every phrase you tried logged.
- Brainstorming where people need to feel safe being half-baked.
- Anything covered by privilege (legal advice).
- Anything where you'd be unhappy if the transcript leaked.
Most platforms now show a small icon when AI note-taking is on. If you don't see it announced at the start, ask: "Is this being recorded or transcribed?"