Organizations that block or restrict AI note-taker bots

The list

We checked every row on 2026-10-01. Each one links to the organization’s own page: its IT help article, its policy, or its official announcement. We did not add a row when the only source was a news story or a vendor blog. The date is the one the page gives. Where the page gives none, we say so.

Rules change, and a page can move. If a link no longer says what the row says, please tell us (see below). This list is not complete. It is the set we could confirm.

Why organizations restrict these bots

These are the reasons the sources above give, in their own terms. We have only grouped them.

• Meeting data leaves the organization. Recordings and transcripts are kept on the vendor’s servers, outside the organization’s control. Morgan State, CUNY and Notre Dame say this directly.
• There is no contract. Without an agreement, there are no limits on what the vendor may do with the data. VCU, Georgetown and Harvard name this.
• Other people did not agree. The University of Washington says Read AI can join and transcribe “without the awareness or consent of other attendees”. SF State says an Otter.ai agent gives other users no way to know about it.
• Bots join on their own. Some bots read a user’s schedule, join even when that user is absent, come back after removal, and email summaries to everyone. Waterloo and UW describe this.
• Laws about personal data. Cornell points to FERPA, the US law on student records. UC San Diego bans capture in meetings with health or financial information.
• Training and later misuse. UC Riverside warns meeting content could be used to train AI models without consent, or reach unauthorized people.
• People talk less freely. Bellevue says notetakers “may make people uncomfortable and can produce inaccurate or misleading information”.

What they usually allow instead

Most of these organizations do not ban AI notes as such. They limit them to tools covered by their own contract, where the data stays inside their systems.

• Built-in AI in the meeting platform. Zoom AI Companion is the approved choice at Tufts, Stony Brook, Notre Dame, Nebraska and UW–Madison. Morgan State also allows Gemini “Take Notes for Me” in Google Meet.
• Microsoft Copilot under the organization’s licence. Cambridge says information “stays within the University’s Microsoft tenancy”. Derbyshire County Council and Waterloo name Copilot too.
• The platform’s own transcript. VCU points to Zoom’s native transcription; Waterloo to Teams transcription.
• Notes by a person. ASAE asks people to rely on “traditional methods of notetaking”. Derbyshire says minutes are taken by hand if an external attendee objects to Copilot.

Even approved tools come with conditions. Chapman recommends Zoom AI Companion only “provided there is consent from all meeting participants”, and Harvard asks hosts to turn assistants off in sensitive meetings.

If you want notes from a meeting

A ban on bots is usually about the data and about consent, not about the bot as such. Keep that in mind when you choose a tool.

1. 1Read your own rules first. Search your IT help pages for “AI notetaker” or “meeting assistant”. Many organizations have a page like the ones above.
2. 2Ask before the meeting, not during it. If the rule is unclear, ask IT or the meeting host. A short email now is better than an awkward moment in the call.
3. 3Use the approved tool if there is one. Often this is Zoom AI Companion, Microsoft Copilot or Gemini in Meet, already paid for under your organization’s contract.
4. 4Tell everyone, every time. Say at the start that you are taking AI notes, and stop if anyone objects. Our consent guide has lines you can use.
5. 5If AI tools are not allowed, take notes by hand. Write decisions, owners and dates. That is most of what a summary gives you anyway.

A browser extension is still an AI tool. An extension like ours does not join the call, so “block bots” settings in Zoom or Teams will not catch it. That does not make it allowed. Several policies above cover any AI note-taking tool, not only bots. If your organization allows only approved tools, an extension that is not on its list is not allowed either. Ask first.

If you host and want to keep bots out, our guide on how to stop AI note-taker bots walks through the settings in Zoom, Teams and Google Meet.

Send us a correction

Is a row wrong, out of date, or missing? Write to [email protected] with a link to the organization’s own page. We add rows only from primary sources, and we update the date at the top when we check again.