AI assistants that join your video calls to take notes and summarize meetings can be quite helpful by allowing all meeting participants to be equally present while keeping notes. However, while the AI note-taker does not possess human intelligence, just like when you invite a person into a meeting it's important to consider whether their presence is welcome or appropriate based on the context of the meeting. OIT recommends considering the following before using an AI note-taker in a meeting:
- How are you planning to use the AI generated notes? For example, are the notes for a low stakes study group that wants to keep track of the discussion topics? Or in contrast, will important actions be taken and/or decisions made using the notes?
- Will other meeting attendees mind if you use an AI note-taker? Consider asking for explicit consent, similar to how you might approach pressing the record button in Zoom or Google Meet.
- Will the meeting content include PSU confidential or restricted information? If so, are you using a PSU-approved tool?
Please keep reading for important information that will help you answer the above questions and use AI tools responsibly at PSU.
What Lurks in the Terms and Conditions of a Free AI tool?
While convenient, AI tools often come with hidden costs to your privacy, the privacy of everyone else joined to a meeting, and depending on the content and context of a meeting, the legal rights of the people and organizations you serve and the Privacy Principles and Privacy Policy of Portland State University.
In OIT, we've read a lot of Terms and Conditions, and here are a few common themes in free AI tools (and even some paid tools):
- Your Data Becomes Their Asset: Many of these services use your confidential meeting transcripts and recordings to train their AI models, and this data is then re-sold to assist other commercial endeavors.
- Lack of Privacy: Your conversations could be subject to human review by the AI company's employees or contractors.
- Information for Sale: All data shared without proper protections may be sold to other companies or individuals for marketing, advertising, or any purpose.
- No Security Guarantees: These tools typically lack the contractual data security and privacy protections required by PSU to safeguard university information.
AI can be Confidently Wrong
Even when a third-party AI note-taker promises to protect your data, there's another significant risk to consider: accuracy. Generative AI models, including those used for summarization and transcription, are prone to 'hallucinations.'
This means the AI can confidently generate information that is factually incorrect, misleading, or a complete fabrication, yet present it as truth. This may result in things like:
- Misinformation and Bad Decisions: A meeting summary that contains a hallucinated action item, budget figure, or quote attributed to an attendee could lead to incorrect decisions or actions.
- Contextual Loss: While good at summarizing, an AI may omit nuanced details or misrepresent the context of a discussion, leading to a summary that is technically accurate in parts but fundamentally wrong in its conclusion.
Always treat AI-generated notes as a draft that requires human review and verification, especially before making consequential decisions based on the content. Consider labeling AI outputs so appropriate scrutiny can be applied months or years down the line when the source may have become less clear.
What can you do?
Protecting university data is a shared responsibility. That's why OIT recommends using only university-vetted AI note-taking tools that have been reviewed for appropriate data security and privacy protections.
For your meetings, please use the built-in AI features available in our supported platforms:
PSU has worked to ensure these services are covered by appropriate contracts that legally protect your, and the university's data while respecting the privacy of every community member.
A Reminder on University Policy
It is a direct violation of PSU's Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) to transfer confidential or restricted university data to a third-party service without an appropriate contract in place. Confidential or restricted data would include anything that isn't appropriate, or ready, to share publicly, and using an unvetted AI note-taker for meetings requires the transfer of meeting data to an unauthorized third-party.
If you have any questions about using AI tools or handling university data, please don't hesitate to contact the OIT Helpdesk. Let's work together to innovate responsibly and keep our community's data safe.
Additional Information