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AI Resources

AI Meeting Assistant Guidelines

Overview

Automated artificial intelligence meeting assistants (aka “AI note takers” or “bots”) are now available to transcribe and summarize online meetings. These assistants may be built into existing collaboration tools such as Zoom, while others are third-party software agents used by individual meeting participants.

Although these tools have legitimate uses (e.g., for accessibility and capturing notes for later reference), they can also pose substantial privacy, regulatory, and legal risks, and have the potential to stifle conversation and open inquiry. More details on risks are outlined below.

AI meeting assistants should not be used in University meetings, with the exception of Zoom AI Companion and other AI meeting assistants approved through the Technology Acquisition Review ("TAR") process:

  • All Santa Clara University (“University” or “SCU”) users have access to Zoom AI Companion tools such as Meeting Summary, In-Meeting Questions and Smart Recording. By default, these AI tools are deactivated for meetings and can be turned on as needed. Please do not use any AI meeting assistants / tools that have not been approved through the TAR process for use in university meetings.
  • When Zoom AI Companion features are enabled, a popup notice may prevent attendees from using audio or video until they agree or leave the meeting. Please follow the instructions in the popup notice that indicate you either agree to the use of Zoom AI features, or object/have questions by sending a meeting chat or email to the host. You may also object to the use of AI Companion at any time after it has been enabled.
  • Use only AI assistants for which SCU has an enterprise agreement with the vendor including appropriate security and privacy protections. We will continue to evaluate their use in our environment. While the Zoom AI Companion is approved for use, the University advises against using third-party bots in meetings due to privacy and data security concerns.

Risks to consider when using these tools

  • Personal and confidential data may be exposed to third parties or used to train AI models, without the necessary contractual protections in place. Privacy and security concerns are paramount, as sensitive information discussed in meetings could be exposed. Where data are used to train AI tools, personal data may be exposed to future users of the AI tool.
  • Discussion summaries may be inaccurate (e.g., missing nuances or important context).
  • Discussion content may be preserved indefinitely or shared with third parties, increasing the risks of inappropriate distribution and unauthorized access.
  • Recorded discussions and summaries/transcripts may be subject to legal discovery in future litigation.
  • Meeting participants may be recorded without their awareness or consent. California is a two party consent state under wiretapping laws (Penal Code 631 PC), making it illegal to record or wiretap confidential communications without the consent of everyone involved.

Guidance for approved use of AI assistants

  • Use only approved tools with contractual protections: Currently, Zoom AI Companion is approved for use. According to Zoom’s stated policy, “Zoom does not use any of your audio, video, chat, screen sharing, attachments or other communications-like customer content (such as poll results, whiteboard and reactions) to train Zoom’s or its third-party artificial intelligence models.” To submit requests to use other AI meeting assistants, please complete the TAR process and obtain TAR approval.
  • Consider the risks: Before using an AI assistant in a meeting (or when joining a meeting where an AI assistant is active), carefully consider the risks above and ask yourself whether the benefit of using the technology outweighs the risks, taking into account the nature of the meeting, the sensitivity of any information that may be discussed, and the risks that might arise from having a recording or detailed transcript stored indefinitely.
  • Proactively obtain consent from participants: Ensure that, at the beginning of the meeting, all meeting participants are aware of and consent to the meeting being recorded / transcribed. Only begin recording once all participants have consented.
    • As noted above, when a host turns on the Zoom AI Companion feature, participants are notified that the communication is being recorded with a pop-up banner. A flashing “sparkle” icon is also present at the top right of the meeting window. Participants who continue with the call after acknowledging notice may be viewed as giving implied consent to the recording.
    • Even with the pop-up notification of the recording, you should clearly announce your intention to use Zoom AI Companion or another authorized AI meeting assistant in the meeting: “Please note that we plan to use an AI assistant to transcribe and summarize this meeting. Please let us know if you have any objections.” Note that this is implied consent (participants are notified and continue participating in the meeting).
    • If a participant objects to the use of an AI assistant, do not use the assistant (those receiving the assistant as an accommodation for disability should consult with the Office of Accessible Education about how to proceed in such instances).
    • When joining a third party’s meeting, explicitly ask if it is being recorded or transcribed. If the anticipated discussion involves sensitive information, request that the meeting not be recorded/transcribed.
  • Avoid use in sensitive meetings: Explicitly ask participants to disable AI assistants in meetings involving Level One Data or Level Two Data, other sensitive nonpublic information such as identifiable student information, health information, financial or loan information, employee performance or employment actions, personally identifiable records, sensitive research, donor strategy, and privileged legal advice). This holds true whether the meeting is hosted by SCU or a third party.
  • Suggested statement in a meeting when sensitive matters arise: “Given the sensitive nature of this discussion, I suggest that we discontinue the use of AI assistants for the time being. If there are any accessibility needs, please let us know so we can accommodate them.”
  • Moderate yourself: If an AI assistant is active in the meeting, be mindful of what you say, with the conservative assumption that your words may be preserved indefinitely.
  • Review and correct summaries, share sparingly, and delete when no longer required: Prior to sharing AI-generated meeting summaries, carefully review the document, correcting any errors, then share sparingly on a need-to-know basis. Keep in mind that summaries may include information that was shared before or after certain participants joined the meeting. Include a notice at the top of the document that the summary was prepared by an AI assistant and may contain inaccuracies, along with instructions for how to submit corrections, e.g., “The meeting notes below were generated by an AI assistant and may contain inaccuracies. Please submit any corrections to the meeting host.”
  • Delete transcripts and meeting summaries when no longer needed for the purpose for which they were created.
    • If you are subject to a litigation hold, AI-generated transcripts or summaries from meetings you host must be preserved.
  • Be inclusive in your presentation: Review Accessibility guidance on hosting accessible remote meetings for more information on how to make virtual meetings more inclusive.