AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

Meeting Quality and Purpose

• Many see AI note-takers as a symptom, not a solution: meetings are overused for information broadcast instead of decision-making and collaboration.
• Strong support for “no agenda, no attenda” and clear outcomes, timeboxes, and written notes/action items after meetings.
• Others argue you can’t always refuse; in many orgs attendance is judged as part of the job, and power dynamics limit who can decline invites.
• Some defend certain meetings (small, focused, or cross-functional) as uniquely useful for fast back‑and‑forth, persuasion, and surfacing hidden knowledge.

Skipping Meetings, Responsibility, and Process

• Tension between people who skip “BS meetings” to get real work done and those frustrated when skippers later complain they weren’t consulted.
• Several argue critical decisions should have a written paper trail and multiple channels (docs, RFCs, email), not a single meeting.
• Others counter that some implementation details only surface when the right engineer is live in the room; transcripts or minutes can’t capture what was never said.
• There’s broad agreement that organizers should publish agendas, clarify who needs to be there, and send concise decision summaries afterward.

AI Note Takers: Benefits

• Fans say tools help them focus on listening, auto‑produce action lists and highlights, and are especially helpful with accents and long multi‑person calls.
• Some like searchable transcripts with timestamps and see bots as a way to consume low‑value or barely‑relevant meetings async instead of live.
• A minority report AI summaries working well enough that they now expect written recaps for most meetings.

AI Note Takers: Problems and Risks

• Many complain outputs are verbose, miss nuance, misattribute tasks, or hallucinate “decisions,” which can confuse absentees.
• Several managers block external note‑taker bots entirely, citing security, confidentiality, and EU‑style data rights. One large bank disables all recording/AI features.
• Strong criticism of tools that scrape participant emails or send marketing spam; some compare them to malware/viruses.
• Consent and privacy are big concerns: people object to being silently fed into third‑party AIs, especially on interviews or external calls.

Remote Work, Culture, and Communication Style

• Disagreement over whether remote work worsened meeting bloat; many say pointless in‑person marathons predate Zoom.
• Long subthreads debate meetings vs async text: writing is clearer and searchable, but many people don’t read well, don’t write well, or simply don’t read at all.
• Daily standups split opinion: some prefer async text updates; others say synchronous check‑ins and face time improve accountability and human connection.