Sorry, I'm in a meeting
A tongue‑in‑cheek web app that simulates online meetings with AI‑generated audio is prompting people to reflect on meeting culture, focus time, and workplace boundaries. Commenters debate how convincing the synthetic voices are, suggest adding more realistic crosstalk and diverse accents, and note that even a crude “busy” signal can deter interruptions in open offices or at home. The project also surfaces broader themes: whether it’s healthier to use tools and calendar tricks to shield deep‑work time, or to confront meeting overload and unreasonable availability expectations directly.
Purpose and use cases
- Tool simulates being in an online meeting: grid UI plus looping AI meeting audio.
- Intended as “busy simulation” / “self‑defense” software to deter coworkers, managers, or family from interrupting.
- Some see it as useful background noise to feel less lonely while working remotely (“big corp ASMR”).
- Others say it would be too distracting to use while doing real work, especially content-heavy “API review”–style tracks.
Realism, accents, and audio quality
- Many find it funny and painfully accurate in tone and dialogue; evokes real tech all-hands and design reviews.
- Others find the TTS voices “uncanny”: too clear, evenly paced, scripted, with no overlaps, filler sounds, or bad mics.
- Several comment that it sounds more like an audiobook or voice acting than a real meeting.
- Requests for more realistic quirks: people talking over each other, hesitation, “ums”, background noise, senior staff who can’t mute, etc.
- Accent coverage is seen as narrow: heavy on British voices; users want multiple American, Indian, South African, European, and Asian accents, plus variable English fluency.
Technical and access issues
- In many browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Brave, Safari, various OSes), only the “British” audio works; other variants silently fail or 404.
- Audio volume is reported as high.
- Some corporate Windows/IT setups block the domain, likely because it’s new or unclassified.
Workplace culture and boundaries
- Some argue people should just say they’re busy or block calendar focus time rather than rely on fake meetings.
- Others note that declining calls or ignoring family “helpdesk” requests often causes offense; fake meetings are a tactical workaround.
- Long subthread on managers protecting teams via recurring “team meetings” or “outage” blocks to create focus time; praised as shielding, but also criticized if it turns managers into communication bottlenecks or avoids fixing root causes.
Related tools, history, and monetization
- Compared to boss keys in old games, fake Windows Update pages, fake progress bars, “hackertyper” sites, and GitLab/YouTube meeting videos people use to look busy.
- Several propose it as a category: busy-simulation / social-boundary tools.
- Site already experiments with monetization by inserting products as in-meeting ads; some call this clever, others dislike covert advertising.
- Feature requests: Zoom/Teams/Meet-style UIs, video tiles with talking faces, other languages, and user-generated AI scripts tailored to one’s own company.