AI Notetakers Are Creating HR Headaches
Good morning!
Employers are encountering a novel workplace peril: AI notetakers that lack the sense to stop listening. In certain virtual meetings, employees log off the call while an AI assistant lingers, silently recording gossip or derogatory remarks made by the remaining employees, and then emailing the transcript to the entire team.
“Those issues give rise to some of the most agonizing problems,” states Joe Lazzarotti, an attorney at Jackson Lewis who is increasingly counseling companies on AI notetaker blunders. “One of the biggest issues is simply trying to figure out how we can control that? How we can educate employees about it? And how we can ensure we don’t fall into a trap of the unalert?”
AI notetakers aren’t always a sign of bad news. A study from AI assistant startup Read AI in collaboration with organizational behavior expert Rebecca Hinds discovered that recorded meetings cause individual contributors to speak almost as much as managers, with women participating 9% more than men.
Still, the recording and distribution of sensitive conversations pose real legal and HR risks. Lazzarotti advises leaders to carry out a comprehensive AI audit before problems occur, including reviewing governance, risk, and compliance regulations; understanding what data is captured; determining which meetings should be recorded; and controlling where recordings and documents are stored and who can access them.
Companies can also establish clear guidelines regarding when AI notetakers are suitable, demand explicit disclosure and consent before recording commences, and restrict how transcripts are shared, avoiding automatic emails to the entire team. Some organizations are choosing summaries instead of verbatim transcripts or giving meeting hosts a “kill switch” to halt recording if conversations veer into sensitive areas.
Employee education is also crucial. Workers should be aware that recorded meetings function more like written documents than private conversations and that offhand remarks made after others leave a call may still be captured.
“[AI notetakers] could be a very potent tool, but it’s just a question of thinking it through before you go ahead and deploy it,” says Lazzarotti.
Editor’s note: This newsletter will be on hiatus for Presidents Day. Catch us back in your inboxes on Feb. 23.
Kristin Stoller
Editorial Director, Live Media