Q&A: Legal concerns of AI notetaking and meeting recordings
Are there any legal concerns regarding using artificial intelligence (AI) notetaking software for virtual meetings? What about recording meetings?
AI notetaking programs can be a helpful resource for transcribing conversations, freeing you up from taking notes and ensuring that those who could not be present don’t miss out. Additionally, these programs can analyze the conversation and provide summaries that can be sorted and searched, highlight key points, and add charts and other visual aids.
Consider state and data privacy laws
In terms of recording meetings, whether it be by AI notetaking or other more traditional recording device, your company and your client will want to be mindful of state wiretapping laws and necessary consent requirements. Many states require the consent of one or even all parties to a conversation before it can be lawfully recorded. In addition, depending on what you are discussing in these meetings, you will want to consider data privacy laws, particularly if confidential information such as employee information, trade secrets, financial information, business strategies, and other sensitive topics are being discussed.
AI systems can be identified as “open” or “closed.” Open AI systems are available to users inside and outside the workplace, and information may be shared and retained indefinitely. Users shouldn’t share information on these systems that they wouldn’t want a third party to see. ChatGPT is one example of an open system. “Closed systems” are proprietary and may limit or prevent user prompts from being shared with outside users.
Any information that’s entered into open AI systems might be shared with unintended users and retained in the AI’s network indefinitely to be used for further system training. Sharing employee data with an open AI system could potentially violate state and federal privacy laws. There are a variety of federal and state laws that may protect consumer and employee information, including consent and notification requirements, as well as restrictions on how employers may retain, dispose of, and use such information. In some states, consumer data privacy laws apply to employment data. Others have laws centered specifically on employee data, such as Social Security numbers and other personally identifying information, credit history, and even personnel files and disciplinary records. Artificial intelligence (AI) is when a computer or program has the ability to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence or decision-making. AI systems improve their performance by learning from new data and experiences over time. Algorithms (which are a set of rules or steps a computer follows to complete a task) “learn” by analyzing data sets provided to them and identifying patterns in the data. These algorithms then execute tasks by making decisions in an attempt to replicate the patterns they’ve identified. You will want to be sure, particularly if using an open system, that sensitive information is not being captured, and that confidential information is not being used to train an AI vendor’s model.
Ensure data security and compliance
Whether it be an AI notetaker or other type of recording, another consideration is what type of information is being captured and how a recording is preserved once created. Who is able to access it? In considering how (and how long) recordings should be maintained, the type of subject matter discussed in the meeting may create legal requirements pertaining to retention and disposal. When these meetings are with third parties, employers will want to address how they’ll approach such situations with whoever has access to such recordings.
There is also the issue of ownership of materials created by an AI program, such as the previously mentioned summaries and visual aids. While the governing terms of a generative AI tool may purport to grant copyright ownership to users of output or content created, the company that owns the AI tool often doesn’t have sufficient rights to grant that ownership because some or all of the output is owned by others.
Note that AI notetakers are subject to errors and many are very new. AI notetakers must account for speakers’ accents, colloquialisms, and other nuances that could be misread and interpreted incorrectly. A poorly designed or trained AI tool has the potential to generate discriminatory information. Even if an algorithm ignores demographic information, certain attributes correlate with demographics and can lead to biased outputs.
Consider impact of recordings on open dialogue
As a practical matter, you may want to consider whether recording a meeting, via a recording device or AI notetaker, will inhibit a meeting participant and prevent them from expressing themselves fully during a meeting.
If you are going to allow the use of an AI notetaker, you will want to vet vendors, create a written policy, along with safeguards and procedures, and ensure that third parties are following such policies as well. You may want to loop into IT, to ensure that the appropriate IT security measures are in place.
Aside from third-party consent laws, what legal considerations to be mindful of depends to a good extent on what type of information is to be discussed at these meetings. It also depends on whether you have the resources to ensure that legal and IT-related risks are being addressed. BLR’s HR Hero offers the ability to create a chart in the State Law Chart Builder that lists the consent requirements and employee privacy laws by state.
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