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A Recording and AI Transcript Policy for Executive Meetings
Meeting recorders and AI note takers are now a click away, and many platforms enable them by default. That convenience hides a real problem. A recording can capture confidential strategy, personal information, or privileged legal discussion and then sit in a shared workspace for months. For an executive assistant, the question is not whether the tools work. It is who consents, who can access the output, how long it is kept, and what the assistant is allowed to do with it.
A short written policy answers those questions once, so the assistant is not making a judgment call in every meeting.
Decide which meetings may be recorded
Start with categories, not a blanket rule. Some meetings are clearly recordable: large all-hands updates, training sessions, and public webinars. Some are clearly not: one-on-ones about performance, legal strategy, compensation, or anything involving personal data.
Create three tiers and publish them.
| Tier | Examples | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Open | All-hands, training, public webinars | Recording allowed with notice |
| Restricted | Project reviews, vendor calls, planning | Recording only with the chair's approval |
| Closed | Personnel, legal, compensation, investigations | No recording, no AI notes |
When a meeting is ambiguous, the default is restricted. The assistant should escalate rather than decide.
Get consent that is actually informed
In two-party-consent jurisdictions, everyone must agree to be recorded. Even where the law allows one-party consent, asking is the right practice and it protects the company. Put the notice in the calendar invite, repeat it at the start of the call, and give people a way to object without embarrassment.
If someone objects, stop the recording. Do not negotiate in front of the group. The chair decides whether to proceed without a recording or to reschedule. The assistant documents the objection and the outcome.
Separate the transcript from the decision
An AI transcript is a draft. It mishears names, drops context, and flattens tone. The assistant may clean up a transcript for readability and extract action items, but the assistant must not treat the transcript as the official record of a decision.
Decisions belong in the decision log or the meeting minutes, reviewed by the chair. Actions belong in the task system with an owner and a due date. If the transcript and the minutes disagree, the minutes govern.
Set retention and deletion
Recordings should have a defined life. A common pattern is 30 days for routine meetings and longer only when there is a documented reason, such as a board obligation or a contractual requirement. The policy should state who can extend retention and how the extension is recorded.
Deletion must be real. Removing a link is not deletion if the file remains in a workspace or a backup. Assign an owner for the deletion step and record that it happened.
Control access
Access to recordings and transcripts should be role-based and narrow. The executive, the chair, and the assistant may need access. A broad company workspace usually does not. Review access when a project ends or a person changes roles.
If the assistant must share a transcript, share the minimum needed. Redact personal data and confidential commentary before distribution. When in doubt, summarize rather than share the raw file.
Vet the tool before the first meeting
Before enabling an AI note taker, confirm where the audio and transcript are stored, whether the vendor trains models on the content, how access is controlled, and how data is deleted. Ask for the data processing terms in writing. The FTC's data security guidance is a useful checklist for the kinds of controls a vendor should be able to describe.
If the answers are vague, do not enable the tool for restricted or closed meetings.
Give the assistant a clear boundary
Write down what the assistant may do without asking: start a recording in an open meeting after the notice, distribute cleaned minutes to the listed attendees, and log actions. Write down what requires approval: recording a restricted meeting, sharing any transcript outside the attendee list, and retaining a recording past the default window.
This boundary protects the assistant as much as the company. When a manager later asks for a transcript of a closed meeting, the assistant can point to the policy instead of making an improvised decision.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need a separate policy for AI notes and recordings?
Treat them together. Both create a persistent record, both raise consent questions, and both need retention and access rules. A single policy is easier to follow than two overlapping ones.
What if a vendor records the call automatically?
Turn automatic recording off unless the meeting is in the open tier. Vendor defaults are set for the vendor's convenience, not your confidentiality obligations.
Who owns the recording?
The organization owns the recording, but ownership does not eliminate consent, retention, or access duties. Ownership answers who can decide; it does not answer who should see it.
Make the policy usable
A recording policy only works if it is short and specific. Publish the three tiers, the consent script, the retention defaults, and the escalation path on one page. If you want an assistant team that already operates inside these boundaries, look at our executive support services. For the closely related question of what to keep from sensitive meetings, see our guide to confidential meeting preparation.