I thought I was joining a quick 1-on-1 today. What I got instead was an ambush by the robot apocalypse.

There I was, staring at my own face on screen, when I noticed the other attendees:

• Larry's Notetaker
• Michael's AI Notetaker
• Fireflies.ai Notetaker Larry
  
  

For a solid 5 minutes, the AIs outnumbered the humans 3-to-1.

I half-expected them to start a side conversation about which one of them had the better transcription algorithm.

When Your Meeting Looks Like a Sci-Fi Screenplay

Look, I work in mortgage tech. I'm all for productivity tools. We've built an entire platform at Pre-Approve Me around automation and efficiency. I get it. I live this stuff.

But when your meeting roster looks like the opening scene of a movie where the machines are quietly gathering intelligence before the uprising, maybe—just maybe—we've crossed a line?

What Each of Those Bots Is Actually Doing

Let's talk about what's really happening every time one of these AI notetakers joins your call:

✓ Recording everything you say
Every word. Every pause. Every "um" and "uh" and off-hand comment you make before the meeting officially starts.

✓ Transcribing everything in real-time
Creating a permanent text record of your conversation, often with timestamps and speaker identification.

✓ Storing everything... somewhere
On servers you didn't choose, with retention policies you didn't review, under terms of service you definitely didn't read.

✓ Probably feeding someone's AI training data
Because let's be honest—how do you think these tools keep getting better? Your conversations are the curriculum.

And here's the kicker: Nobody asked. Nobody coordinated.

We just... accepted this as the new normal.

Remember When We Used Phones?

Seriously, wasn't it just a few years ago that we accomplished the exact same thing—capturing meeting notes and action items—with a phone?

You'd jot down notes during the call. Maybe send a quick follow-up email. "Here's what we discussed, here's what we agreed to, here are the next steps."

It worked. It was simple. And most importantly, everyone knew when it was happening.

The Consent Problem Nobody's Talking About

Here's what really bothers me: What happened to "Hey, mind if I record this?"

That used to be standard meeting etiquette. If you wanted to record a conversation, you asked first. You gave people the option to decline. You respected that not everyone is comfortable being recorded.

Now? We've normalized showing up to calls with our digital entourage, assuming everyone's cool with being captured in three different companies' databases.

Nobody asks anymore because everyone's doing it. And because everyone's doing it, asking feels awkward—like you're being the weird one for caring about privacy.

But when did we collectively agree to this?

I don't remember that meeting. (Though I'm sure someone's AI notetaker captured it.)

The Invisible Audience Effect

There's something fundamentally different about how you communicate when you know you're being recorded.

You choose your words more carefully. You hedge your statements. You avoid saying anything that could be taken out of context later. You perform.

And that's exactly what's happening now: We're all performing for an invisible audience every time we hop on a call.

The spontaneity is gone. The casual brainstorming is constrained. The honest "I'm not sure about this" moments get filtered through a lens of "how will this sound in the transcript?"

We've traded authentic conversation for permanent records—and we're not even acknowledging the cost.

I'm Not Anti-AI (But I Am Pro-Conversation)

Let me be clear: I'm not anti-AI. We use AI at Pre-Approve Me. It's powerful. It's transformative when used thoughtfully.

But I am pro-"maybe we should actually talk about this."

Because right now, we're sleepwalking into a world where:

• Every conversation is recorded by default
• Multiple companies have copies of your private discussions
• The social pressure to accept AI notetakers is overwhelming
• Opting out makes you look like a Luddite or like you have something to hide

That's not progress. That's just normalized surveillance with a productivity wrapper.

What We Should Be Doing Instead

Here's a radical idea: Ask before you bring AI to the party.

When you send a meeting invite, mention that you'll have a notetaker joining. Give people a heads up. Let them opt out if they're not comfortable.

Better yet? Coordinate as a group:

• "Hey, I'm happy to have my AI take notes for all of us—does everyone consent?"
• "Anyone uncomfortable with recording? We can take manual notes instead."
• "Let's use just one notetaker instead of three—whose should we go with?"

It's not complicated. It's just respectful.

The Question We're All Avoiding

Who else feels like they're performing for an invisible audience every time they hop on a call now?

If that resonates with you, you're not alone. And you're not being paranoid or old-fashioned.

You're recognizing that something fundamental has shifted in how we communicate—and we never had a real conversation about whether we actually wanted that shift.

The Bottom Line

AI notetakers are tools. Potentially useful tools. But like any tool, they shouldn't be deployed without thought for the human impact.

Before you invite your AI companion to the next meeting, ask yourself:

• Did everyone actually consent to being recorded?
• Is this necessary, or am I just doing it because everyone else is?
• What am I optimizing for—productivity or authentic conversation?
• Am I comfortable with my words living in someone else's database indefinitely?

Maybe after answering those questions, you'll still bring the AI along.

But at least you'll have asked.

How do you handle AI notetakers in your meetings? Do you ask for consent? Have you opted out of recorded calls? Let's have the conversation we should have had before the bots showed up.

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