AI Meeting Notes Made Me Lazy, and Lazier Meetings Followed
A perfect transcript is a perfect excuse to stop paying attention. I learned that the hard way.
I love meeting-note tools. Fireflies or Otter join the call, hand me a transcript and action items, and I walk away feeling covered. Then I noticed I'd stopped really listening.
The transcript became a crutch. I'd half-engage, confident the summary would catch the decision, and twice it didn't, because the important thing was a tone or a hesitation the text flattened. The note said 'approved,' the room said 'approved, but worried,' and I missed the worry.
Worse, meetings got worse. Knowing notes would be captured, nobody prepared. We rambled, safe in the knowledge the AI would 'figure it out.' The tool didn't make us clearer; it let us be messier and call it documented.
My fix is old-fashioned: I take three handwritten bullets during the call, then let the tool verify I didn't miss anything. The human notes catch the feeling; the AI catches the facts. Together they're strong, but the AI alone made me careless.
Use the transcript as a safety net, not a substitute for being in the room. The moment you stop listening because the bot is listening, you've outsourced the part that mattered.