Re: I'm Begging You to Leave Your AI Note-Taker at Home

Re: I'm Begging You to Leave Your AI Note-taker at Home Joan writes about how they encounter people that bring an "AI Note taker" to every catch-up and meeting. Recording every word, and transcribing it. (Or is it mutilate? You never know with those things!). And they feel unsafe to say they mind. You know what? I do mind My physio therapist asked if I "minded" if they were to record my medical status with an AI note taker. The question was framed the same way as what Joan describes. You don't mind, do you? I told my physio that I do mind. I am not comfortable with everything being recorded, especially not if it goes through an AI. She gracefully accepted and wrote notes like a normal human, in Microsoft Windows Notepad CoPilot+ Edition*. *: That's sarcasm towards how screwed up Windows is becoming Maybe I'm without shame? I don't know why I have no problem with saying it out loud. I don't know if I'm strange in this way, but if you're recording my every move during a coffee catch-up, something is wrong with you, and I am not willing to play a part in that. I'll say it out loud, yes, actually, I do fucking mind. And if that makes things awkward, then that's not on me, I'm not the one bringing a recorder and transcriber to a lighthearted catch-up! I have no shame about saying that I do mind. Taking notes, but differently framed... Let's imagine for a second that the whole AI craze doesn't exist, but you still would want to real-time note-taker, what would you do? Indeed, you bring a literal third person to the table. That will just be sitting there, listening in on your conversation and writing everything down. How fucking creepy is that?! How fucking awkward is that? And before you start talking with whoever you're catching up with, you ask "You don't mind, do you?" That is extremely creepy. I'd be weirded out and walk away. Why would it be any different if it's a computer listening in and passing every word that's being said through multiple layers of AWS, Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic just to be sure that every word is captured? That is fucking weird. So, what then? Just leave your computer or note-taker device/app off. Or grab a napkin to write some notes on, that's not that hard. Not everything needs to be written down, and if someone does "ask" if it is a problem to pull out the newest, latest, greatest, incomparable-to-other note-taker AI, the question isn't if you mind, the question is why would you not mind. So, counter the question of why you would not mind, with why do you even need it here. Ask. Ask "why" 5 times, at least, to get to the bottom of what this note-taking device/app is doing here, what's the purpose of it that it is so unmissable in this light-hearted conversation. Not everything needs to be a checklist A relaxed conversation, even if it has a serious undertone such as a coffee-interview with a prospective employe(r|e), the outcome of the "vibe" is enough, there isn't an explicit need to walk away with a list of things to do, or a plan of attack, or a call to action. Calm down, leave the computers at home. Maybe think about your chat, instead of having to put everything into actions. This post is a reply in ReplyJuly2026. Further ReplyJuly posts will have the ReplyJuly tag at the top as well. If you have any feedback, or questions, feel free to get in touch!