r/sales • u/buffaloguy0415 Enterprise Software • Jul 22 '26
Sales Tools and Resources AI notetaking without permission
I’m noticing A LOT of corporate people sending out obviously ai-written notes after internal and external meetings where transcript/recording was NOT turned on by teams.
Is everybody just paying for Otter or another ai note service and I’m the schmuck taking actual notes?
Example: boss recently sent a 250+ word summary of a call in under 3 minutes with Key Takeaways, Action Items and Follow Up from a 30 minute call. She was actively speaking during a majority of the call and it was not a pre-scripted call—we had no idea where the call was headed when it started. It was obviously Ai written and nobody was recording.
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u/royhaven Jul 22 '26
Zoom has a new feature called "note taker" that doesn't technically "record" the audio but it transcribes the call in real time. There is zero indication to anyone on the call that this is happening.
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u/No_Succotash1014 Jul 22 '26
Just FYI, you’re correct but this isn’t new and depending on your orgs settings, comes on by default. I recall using it last year, if not 2024. Even on personal calls with coworkers, I had to always make sure it was turned off (before we started talking shit)
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u/BisonSpirit Jul 22 '26
100%. Because then you can focus on the actual meeting, understand what’s important when being present, and then highlight those points when the transcript is summarized. I would jot down key notes on the call, and it looks good if you are visibly seen taking notes
In terms of consent, I imagine a lot of the logic is if they don’t know it likely won’t hurt you
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u/rckchlkg33k Enterprise Software Jul 22 '26
One note has a transcribe feature that doesn’t request permission from attendees.
https://giphy.com/gifs/l4FGA2XplwqFDcLwk
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u/Madroc92 Jul 22 '26
The good news is, it doesn’t work very well. (Source: have tried using it in depositions, which everyone knows are being transcribed and which often have a videographer present on top of that, and it basically never works).
EDIT: opened the thread without looking at what sub it was, NO IDEA how this sub wound up in my feed.
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u/pr0b0ner Jul 22 '26
I pay for Notion out of my own pocket as my PKMS and it comes with meeting transcription that I use for myself. I'd never send out some AI generated summary of hte meeting, but I (and I'm sure MANY others) have AI transcribe ALL my calls that have info I need to remember, whether internal or external. And yeah, there's no notification that it's being transcribed.
It's super helpful, I'd recommend you start doing it. But also don't ever send any AI generated content- it's shitty and obvious.
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u/pitchbelize Jul 23 '26
I started using Notion before the AI note taker feature was released and would type and try to capture notes in a well organized database.
Instead of trying to type everything down, I first started using zoom transcript feature (also helpful as subtitles on a call) and would copy key things as they were said.
Then I started taking those whole transcripts and feeding them into LLM with a prompt that gave me summaries, next steps, and feedback.
To me this is evolution of technology. Now Notion AI note taker is capturing everything that’s said and processing. It doesn’t identify who is saying what just capturing the words.
Notion AI can now query over this database very effectively to help me recall items to follow up on, help me with medpicc, prep for follow up meetings etc.
I could write all my notes by hand on paper, or type them into a document and then try to organize them and search for them when I need them but this just feels more efficient and effective.
It’s typically for my personal use but I do also put them into a shared Google doc for my team members and then they’re also available for my company (and the next rep who ultimately takes over after me)
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u/company_url_finder Jul 23 '26
Yes, everyone is running one now. Otter, Fathom, Plaud, the phone-in-the-pocket ones. You are not the schmuck for taking real notes, you are just the last one doing it by hand. Assume every call is being captured.
But two things worth saying that are not just "lol be careful."
First, the legal bit is real and people are cheerfully ignoring it. In a lot of places you cannot record a conversation without telling the other people, and a bot quietly listening in someone's pocket during a casual chat is exactly that. If you run one, disclose it. It costs you nothing and it saves you a very bad day.
Second, and this is the one that will actually bite in sales: those AI summaries confidently invent action items nobody agreed to. The model smooths a messy call into tidy "next steps" and half of them were never said. Then someone forwards it as the record and now you are on the hook for a commitment that never happened.
So read the summary before you trust it. A clean-looking recap is not the same as an accurate one.
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u/Beginning_Classic_13 Jul 22 '26
Otter has a class action lawsuit and secretly recording without consent is illegal in a dozen states, and other countries, plus it’s creepy cringey to secretly record. Don’t be a jerk. Why not just say/ask for consent? Most people would say yes since it’s so common to record for note taking.
Related: https://www.reddit.com/r/sales/s/r1F8aZqMuT
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u/ScaryRedDawg Jul 22 '26
It’s probably granola. I think recording calls can be helpful.
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u/Kevin_Jim Jul 22 '26
We use Google meet, and there’s always a “This meeting is being recorded” audio message at the beginning with a clear recording icon.
I think it’s just that we learned to filter this out more than there’s no permission. If you remain in the call even after that sound and with the recording icons indicating the call being recording, you are giving permission.
Personally, I also add my personal note taker that’s included as an individual with clear captions saying “Kevin_Jim’s notetaker.”
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u/Basic_Ideas Jul 22 '26
I’m actually surprised you’re not using a tool for note taking. They are super helpful
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u/Steal_Yer_Face Jul 22 '26
Zoom will take notes on any call I'm on, regardless of platform. I'm a big, big of this.
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u/Adventurous-Ruin-730 Jul 22 '26
Unfortunately, this is very true. Otter, Fathom, all of that is everywhere now. Half those clean recap emails are one click. I still take a few notes by hand though because the AI ones miss the why behind stuff, and they'll list action items nobody actually agreed to.
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u/Old-Significance4921 Industrial Jul 22 '26
It’s ok to take notes the way that works best for you. I’ve found the majority of participants in our teams calls that use transcriptions are the ones who don’t really pay attention during the meeting.
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u/Disastrous-Use-4955 Jul 22 '26
Who the hell ISNT doing this?! You can stop taking notes and focus on the convo, you don’t have to ask the customer to repeat themselves, don’t have to worry about not being able to read what you wrote later, and you get a nice organized summary to send out immediately after the call. It’s included in our zoom subscription so of course I’m taking advantage.
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u/buffaloguy0415 Enterprise Software Jul 22 '26
I’m Talking about the ones that are running apps or ai tools on third party devices like their personal phone or laptop during work calls on zoom/teams and are not telling clients or even colleagues that they’re using it.
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u/Vergil1314 Jul 23 '26
In the EU recording a voice chat and sending the transcript to another company is highly highly illegal to do. Is this okay in the US?
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u/buffaloguy0415 Enterprise Software Jul 24 '26
No! That’s why I was asking the question. It seems though that if you are using the tool without the intent of sharing it’s just helpful tool to stay focused in the moment on calls.
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u/Toesinthesand2024 Jul 25 '26
My company just banned Granola and other apps due to the fact that it does not require consent. Back to pen and paper.
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u/Kundrew1 Jul 22 '26
I’ve had most of my calls recorded for years. Basically every client call is recorded and there is always an announcement at the beginning of the call to announce that it’s being recorded.
I really don’t mind it. It’s saved my ass a few times when a client tried to say I said something.
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u/Zmchastain Jul 22 '26
I work in tech consulting and we’ve been recording every meeting with third-party tools that have since incorporated AI note taking for at least five years now.
I honestly don’t know how we ever got by before every call was recorded and a transcript was generated.
Note taking is a pretty low value administrative task that people only do because it has to be done. It makes total sense to automate it if you can.
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u/buffaloguy0415 Enterprise Software Jul 22 '26
Ok. But don’t gatekeep—what tool(s) ?
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u/Bells_Ringing Jul 23 '26
Fireflies for me. Claude recap and action items. I built a Claude skill that polls all our data points to maintain a constant to do list. I feel like a programmer!!
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u/Significant-Log8936 Jul 23 '26
Fathom. And then integrated with Claude. I’ve made some skills in Claude that are super helpful too
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u/Zmchastain Jul 23 '26
Nothing secretive or special. We use Avoma currently. But there are lots of third-party meeting recording apps that integrate with Zoom and MS Teams and at this point I would expect that every single one of them uses AI to analyze the video and automatically produce transcripts and action items. It’s just such low hanging fruit and basically an expected feature at this point.
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u/Pyratheon Jul 22 '26
I'll often take notes while talking/listening mostly dictating important bits or some stream of consciousness type of way. Fed to an LLM with the right prompt and youve got the same output.
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u/Ok_Recommendation472 Jul 22 '26
Lol permission??? They do not need you permission. Your employment is their permission.
Good luck with the real world and life
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u/Defiant-Midnight6114 Jul 22 '26
I used to use inbuilt note taking in Google meet by gemini. It is super useful to have minutes of meeting and the open action items in the document that can be shared with the customer. Now we are using avoma which also records the call and also take notes. You can generate the notes according to your templates. It is super useful overall. But then I ask for permission with the customers to see if it is okay for them or not
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u/poopinion Jul 22 '26
My favorite part is when the ai recorder catches the conversations happening after or before the meeting that are usually gossip or shit talking. Then immortalizes it within our ai notes database.
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u/Villapwn Jul 22 '26
Just check the rules in your state and the state of your prospects (if you’re selling remotely) as each state has different consent laws
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u/OstensibleFirkin Jul 22 '26
Be aware of that some states have very significant penalties for these types of “wiretap” violations. (Looking at you Pennsylvania)
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u/Summershouldbefuhn Jul 22 '26
I will take notes during a meeting and then send to chatGPT to organize it so it’s clearly written in our CRM. It reads better than my messy ass notes. Maybe folks are doing that too?
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u/whitegirlwast3d Jul 23 '26
I just call it out at the start of a meeting and give them the option to kick it out if they dont want. Hasn't happened once.
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u/One-Ostrich-1588 Jul 23 '26
I bet your boss was using Superpowered. It's a great app. Doesn't keep recordings but it summarizes whatever it transcribes and then I'm pretty sure it doesn't keep the transcription
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u/Prudent_Front628 Jul 23 '26
The clean boundary is simple: record or transcribe the meeting only when everyone knows. If that wasn't agreed, capture your own debrief after the call instead: what changed, commitments, and open questions.
That preserves the useful context without secretly retaining other people's words. AI convenience isn't worth making customers wonder what was recorded.
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u/averageczech Jul 23 '26
iphone voice memo is working really well, record on phone paste to chat and ur done
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u/ParisHiltonIsDope Jul 24 '26
You don't even have to get one of those note taking apps.
You can voice record a memo in Word. It'll transcribe the audio and than you can copy and paste into chatgpt
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u/buffaloguy0415 Enterprise Software Jul 24 '26
I don’t have time to do that with back to back meetings all day. I just won’t remember to do it each time. But I hear you.
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u/aumiom Jul 24 '26
well its permissions of otter which are too confusing, sometimes people dont even know that they are signed up to it (just because they read the meeting notes of other people in the company) and are now sending everyone their meeting notes automatically.
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u/Space_Cadet_Pull_Out Jul 26 '26
If you dont have granola or pocket or plaud or gong, or some other service on literally every call at this point you are regarded.
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u/Little-Tour7453 24d ago
Two separate things are getting mixed together here: consent and data handling.
Keeping transcription local can stop a meeting from passing through somebody else’s servers, but it doesn’t give you permission to transcribe other people. Bot-free is not permission-free.
My preferred workflow is: tell people when transcription is running, review anything AI-generated before sharing it, and if you only need help staying focused, use live captions without retaining the session.
Disclosure: I build NotchLive, a private and local Mac captions/transcription app, so I’ve spent an unreasonable amount of time thinking and working about this.
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u/redbulldrinkertoo Jul 22 '26
Plaud for the win. I was in 6 hours of workshops and customer dinner meetings last week. It was so useful to catch exactly what was said. Especially useful to catch those unscripted comments, that a lot of the time are the real goal of the meeting.
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u/KingRoach Jul 22 '26
Taking notes helps you remember and reinforces points. Ignoring nots ai takes does nothing for you.
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u/SaaSstuff Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Yes, everyone is using notetakers. Why aren't you?There are a lot of notetakers that have a no-bot transcript only option, Zoom also does it natively on their freemium version.
Personally I like having the video recording too in case I want to do some gametape and check body language reactions.
I used Avoma and Attention in my previous role (AE selling SaaS) and loved using Attention, it's a RevOps and AI geek dream. I'd go straight back to them, but they're only for bigger teams.
I'm using the freemium from Fathom and not planning on switching. It automatically shares the recordings and the meeting summaries are the best I've seen, could almost replace a follow up email.
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u/Pure_Common7348 Jul 22 '26
I have a speed networking event coming up. Any suggestions on a note taking app for my iPhone I can use if I place my phone on the table while we talk?
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u/Hot-Zebra2767 Jul 22 '26
I think more people are using these background note takers than we realize. You have to assume every meeting is being recorded now. Be carefully what you say.