An AI notetaker privacy checklist for IT, security and legal reviewers

Start here, because every other answer depends on it. A notetaker may join the call as a participant, record on the user's own computer, or run inside the meeting platform, and each of these sends the conversation to a different place.

Ask

• How does it capture a meeting: does it join as a participant, record on the user's device, or run inside the meeting platform?
• Does it keep the audio and video, or only the transcript and notes?
• Where is speech turned into text: on the device, on the vendor's servers, or at another company?
• In which countries is meeting content stored and processed, and can we choose the region?
• Is content encrypted in transit and at rest, and who holds the keys?
• Which copies are made outside the main store, such as summary emails, chat posts, calendar notes, CRM or task integrations and exports?

A complete answer

A list of every place a recording, transcript or summary is written, with the company that runs it and the country it is in.

Where to look

The vendor's security or trust page, its data processing agreement (DPA) and any architecture paper.

Recordings and transcripts tend to outlive the reason they were made. Find out how long each kind of content is kept and who can change that.

Ask

• What are the default retention periods for audio, video, transcripts, notes and action items?
• Can an admin set a maximum that users can't extend?
• When content expires, what happens to backups, logs, search indexes and copies already sent to integrations?
• Can content be kept under a legal hold, and released afterwards?
• What happens to a person's content when they leave, and to everything when the contract ends?

A complete answer

A table with each kind of content, its default period, the setting that changes it and who is allowed to change it.

Where to look

Help articles on retention, the admin guide and the deletion clause of the DPA.

Many notetakers send a summary to people after the call. Check who receives it by default, because a default that suits an internal stand-up may not suit a call with a customer or a candidate.

Ask

• Who receives the notes by default: the person who started the notetaker, the host, everyone invited, or people outside our organisation too?
• Can users share a recording or transcript by link, and can those links reach people outside our organisation?
• Can admins open every user's recordings, and is that access logged?
• Can the vendor's own staff open customer content? Under what process, and is it logged?
• Do people on the call who don't use the product receive anything, such as a summary email or an invitation to sign up?

A complete answer

The default sharing settings, the admin setting that restricts them, and the vendor's written policy on its own staff's access.

Where to look

Help articles on sharing, the admin guide, and the confidentiality and personnel sections of the DPA.

An AI notetaker usually sends transcripts to a language model, and the model may be run by another company. Ask whether anyone trains on that content, and get the answer in the contract.

Ask

• Is customer content (audio, transcripts, notes, prompts) used to train or improve the vendor's models? Is that opt-in, opt-out or never?
• Which outside AI model providers process our content, and do they keep it or train on it?
• Does the promise cover everything, including feedback, edits, and data the vendor calls de-identified or aggregated?
• Is the promise in the contract or the DPA, or only on a web page?
• Can we choose the model provider, or turn the AI features off and keep only the recording or transcript?

A complete answer

The contract wording on training, and a list of the model providers with what each one keeps and for how long.

Where to look

The vendor's AI or privacy page, its terms of service, the DPA and its list of subprocessors.

A notetaker that joins from a person's calendar can arrive in meetings that person doesn't host, including meetings at other organisations, and keep coming back to a recurring series.

Ask

• Does the notetaker join calls as a participant? Under what name, and can users rename it?
• Does it join automatically from a connected calendar? Is that on by default, and can an admin turn it off for everyone?
• Can it join meetings the user is invited to but doesn't host, including meetings run by other organisations?
• How does a host remove it, and how do they stop it coming back to the next meeting in the series?
• Does it start recording before the host lets it in, for example while it waits in a lobby?

A complete answer

The default joining behaviour, the admin control that limits it, and the steps a host takes to remove it.

Where to look

Help articles on automatic joining and calendar connections.

If you run Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet, Keep notetaker bots out lists the settings each platform documents.

People on a call should know it is being recorded or transcribed, and in some places the law requires everyone's agreement. Find out what the notetaker does to tell them and what it leaves to the user.

Ask

• How are the other people on the call told: a participant name, a chat message, an email before the meeting, a spoken notice, or nothing?
• Can someone on the call stop the recording, or ask for it to be deleted afterwards? How?
• Who do the vendor's terms make responsible for getting consent?
• Can an admin require a notice or consent before recording starts?
• Does the notice reach people who join by phone or sit in a meeting room?

A complete answer

What each person on the call sees or hears and when, and the clause in the terms that says who must get consent.

Where to look

Help articles on notifications, the terms of service and the acceptable use policy.

Calls that cross borders can fall under more than one rule. Recording law by place has general information, and your lawyer has the answer for your situation.

A tool IT can't manage tends to be used anyway, on personal sign-ups. Check what an admin can set centrally and what each user can override.

Ask

• Can IT approve the tool for the organisation and stop personal sign-ups with company email addresses?
• Does it support single sign-on, and automatic removal of people who leave?
• Which features can an admin turn off: automatic joining, recording of external meetings, sharing outside the organisation, integrations, AI features?
• Is there an audit log of who viewed, shared, exported or deleted a recording?
• For software installed on computers, can its settings be enforced with device management (MDM)?
• Does the product report usage to admins, and what does that report contain?

A complete answer

A list of admin settings with their defaults, marked with the ones users can override.

Where to look

The admin guide and the page for business or enterprise plans.

Deletion is only as good as the last copy. A request to remove someone's data has to reach the recording, the transcript, the notes and every copy made from them.

Ask

• Can a user delete one meeting, only its audio, or everything?
• Can an admin delete a user's content, for example to answer an access or erasure request?
• How long after deletion is content gone from backups and from AI model providers?
• Does deletion reach copies in email, chat and integrations?
• Can we export everything before we leave, and in which formats?
• Will the vendor confirm deletion in writing when the contract ends?

A complete answer

The steps to delete each copy, and how long it takes to disappear from backups.

Where to look

Help articles on deleting, and the deletion and return clause of the DPA.

The companies a vendor relies on handle your data too. Meeting content and billing details often go to different ones.

Ask

• Is there a public list of subprocessors, with what each does and where it operates?
• Which of them receive meeting content, and which receive only account or billing details?
• How are customers told about a new subprocessor, and can we object?
• Does the DPA include transfer terms, such as standard contractual clauses, for data that leaves our region?

A complete answer

A list with each subprocessor's purpose and location, marked with the ones that handle meeting content.

Where to look

The vendor's subprocessor page and its DPA.

Past incidents, and how the vendor handled them, say more than a list of badges. Ask for both.

Ask

• Has the vendor had a security incident or breach that affected customer content? What changed afterwards?
• How quickly does the vendor commit to telling customers about an incident that affects their data, and is that in the contract?
• Is there a published way to report a vulnerability, and are security fixes listed in the release notes?
• Which independent reports can it share, such as a SOC 2 Type II report, an ISO 27001 certificate or a recent penetration test summary, and what period do they cover?
• Is there a status page or a public history of incidents?

A complete answer

Dates and short accounts of past incidents, the notification period in the contract, and the latest audit report with the period it covers.

Where to look

The trust or security page, the status page, the DPA, and a news search for the vendor's name with "breach" or "incident".

Notes written by AI can leave things out or credit words to the wrong person. That matters most when the notes feed a decision about someone.

Ask

• How does the product show who said what, and how often is that wrong in calls like ours?
• Will the notes be used in decisions about people, such as hiring or performance reviews? What check happens before that?
• Can the people in a meeting see and correct what the notes say about them?
• Is the original recording kept long enough to check the notes against it?

A complete answer

The product's own guidance on checking notes, and your organisation's rule on using them in decisions.

Where to look

The vendor's help on accuracy and speaker labels, and your own HR and AI policies.