Are you recording the conversation?

AI notetaking can prove useful and may drive value. It can also erode trust.

I got a notification from something called Fathom the other day. The subject line declared that someone wanted to record our upcoming Zoom call. 

I opened the email and discovered that Fathom is an AI notetaking platform. The email it sent asked for my consent to be recorded. It even allowed me to ask for a copy of the recording (hello demonstrating value and getting new users).

My team facilitates sessions on the regular. I’ve already flagged that AI (or other technology) could prove useful in capturing notes while the facilitator focuses on the other aspects of facilitating. And bonus, we would end up with a word-for-word transcript we could search, summarize, and query with the help of AI. 

But as a human being sitting in my well-worn desk chair looking at this email in my inbox, I felt uncomfortable. No, I didn’t want to be recorded, and I clicked the no option accordingly.

I trashed the email instinctively and, after a few seconds, pulled it out and went on a little digging adventure…