This article is intended to help you identify whether you are using an AI-based meeting assistant or transcription tool, whether one has joined a meeting you are part of, and how to remove them from a meeting you are part of. It gives a short description of common tools such as Otter.ai (OtterPilot) and Read.ai. It also highlights the privacy and security aspects related to the use of these tools.

We do not currently recommend the use of any AI meeting transcription and summarisation tools, as these tools may pose unexpected data protection and security risks, mainly due to these 3rd party tools storing and processing their data outside of the UK/EU.

While we do not recommend the use of 3rd party tools, the automatic transcription capability built into Microsoft Teams has been assessed and is considered safe to use.

AI is a rapidly developing field and the University is continuing to review and assess our guidance alongside these developments.

Overview of AI meeting assistant tools

AI meeting assistant tools (like Otter.ai and Read.ai) are software based on generative AI. They are designed to record meetings and commonly provide:

• Meeting analysis and transcription
• Summary of the meeting’s key topics and notes
• Capture of the slides shared during the meeting

How they work

The use of these tools requires you to connect your Outlook calendar to the software application.

If an upcoming calendar event includes a Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams meeting link, the AI transcript tool will automatically join the meeting at the scheduled time as a participant.

Once the meeting has ended, the software can also automatically share the meeting transcript with the calendar event guests. 

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Privacy implications

We’ve had several reports from staff in the University who are worried about this tool and the potential privacy implications. The Cyber Security team put together some key points for you.

Data location  

Many of these AI meeting assistant tools use servers in the USA.

The University does not recommend the use of any services that store data outside the UK or EU. This is because privacy regulations in the US are not adequately aligned with UK/EU practices.

If you are thinking about using one of these tools, carefully read the full privacy policy before starting using them.

How to tell if someone is using an AI meeting assistant during a meeting

If you or another participant in your meeting is using an Ai meeting assistant, you will see an external participant (with a name made up, such as "OtterPilot” or “Read.ai meeting notes”) joining the meeting.

Here below you can find an example from users that have installed Otter.ai and Read.ai:

• Otter.ai:
  

• Read.ai:
  

These are AI-generated participants (also called “bot” in the following part of the article).

Please note:

• This bot can automatically take part in your meetings, even if you did not add it to the list of participants. This happens when the tool’s settings show the “Auto-join” option turned on.
• In some cases, these bots can join a meeting even if you do not attend. This is due to specific setting and happens when:
  1. You have previously linked your calendar to the AI transcript tool
  2. You have been invited to the meeting
  3. The host has admitted the software
  4. The host has allowed the recording

Sharing the transcript

Depending on your settings, the software can:

• Automatically share the transcript with all event guests when the meeting starts
• Send a summary email to all participants after the meeting has ended.

This means it’s grabbing the email addresses of participants from the meeting invite. Depending on your settings, you might not receive this email, but the software would still get one.

Removing yourself or other participants from a meeting

If you believe someone else in your meeting is using a meeting transcription and summarisation service (like Otter.ai or Read.ai), ask them to give the meeting participants a summary of how they have it configured.

If you're not happy, ask them to remove the assistant from the meeting, or remove it yourself as follows:

1. Right-click the bot participant
2. Select "Remove from meeting".

Let your participants know if you are using AI transcript tools

If you are using an AI tool in a meeting, it is important to ensure you have informed the meeting participants and gained consent to use the tool – many of the apps will also directly email the meeting participants the transcription and meeting notes, so please do notify people if that is the case.

You may wish to consider the level of confidentiality of the meeting and whether using an external service is appropriate. AI tools may appear in the lobbies of meetings with the extension .ai and should not be granted access until the attendees have agreed to it.

Microsoft Teams has a meeting transcript function which can be utilised if needed.

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Recommendations and notes

• Visit the page "Microsoft 365 support centre | Meetings - How do I..." to know more about running a meeting, recording it, adding or edit transcriptions, and other useful advices
• Whilst AI tools are very sophisticated, they are not always accurate. Any notes will need to be carefully checked and reviewed.
• Otter.ai, Read.ai and AI transcription tools not built into Microsoft 365 applications are not supported by iSolutions
• Otter.ai and Read.ai have a comprehensive privacy and security statement:
  
  • Privacy & Security | Otter.ai
  • Privacy Policy - Read
• If you want to change your setting and block Otter / Read to automatically join your meetings, read the following articles:
  
  • Stop OtterPilot from automatically joining your meetings – Otter.ai Help Center
  • Remove OtterPilot from your Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams meeting – Otter.ai Help Center
  • How do I remove or stop Read from joining meetings? – Read Help Center
  • I don’t want Read to join all my meetings, what are my options? – Read Help Center
  • How do I remove Read from part of my meeting, but keep the insights until I need to remove Read? – Read Help Center

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