Using AI to handle meeting notes

One of the most reliable everyday wins from AI is turning a messy meeting into a short, useful record: a summary, the decisions, and who agreed to do what. The tools are good at this because it’s exactly the kind of “compress and restructure” task they excel at.

A simple workflow

1. Capture the meeting — a transcript from your meeting tool, or notes you typed.
2. Ask for structure, not just a summary: “Give me a 5-line summary, then a bullet list of decisions, then a table of action items with an owner and a due date.”
3. Skim against memory. You were there — a quick read catches anything misattributed or invented before it spreads.

Two cautions

• Consent and sensitivity. Recording or transcribing a meeting affects everyone in it. Say you’re doing it, and don’t feed confidential discussions into tools that aren’t sanctioned — the shadow-AI trap.
• Tell people when notes are AI-made. It sets the right expectation that they should be checked — see disclosing AI use.

The model writes the first draft of the notes. You stay the editor of record.