What is a meeting bot? How AI notetaker bots join and record calls
On this page
- How does a meeting bot get into a call?
- What does a meeting bot record?
- Who makes meeting bots?
- How do meeting platforms treat bots?
- What can go wrong with a meeting bot on interview day?
- What does the other person see and agree to?
- What are the pros and cons of meeting bots in interviews?
- How do you stop or remove a meeting bot?
- What are the alternatives to a meeting bot?
- Questions people ask
A meeting bot is software that joins a Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet or Webex call as if it were a participant, so it can record the call, transcribe it and send notes afterwards. It runs on the vendor's servers rather than anyone's computer, appears in the participant list under a name such as "Notetaker," and usually gets into meetings through a calendar connection. As of October 2026, recruiting tools such as Metaview and Greenhouse Notetaker and general tools such as Otter and Fireflies all offer a bot, and companies such as Recall.ai sell an API for building one.
This page covers how a bot gets into a call, what it records, how meeting platforms police bots, and what the person on the other side sees. If you are weighing a bot against capture on your own device, read it alongside what is a bot-free AI note taker.
How does a meeting bot get into a call?
- It finds the meeting. Most services read your calendar and pick out events with a video link. Metaview's help center says its bot joins if it was manually invited or if one of the participants has automatic scheduling turned on (Metaview Notes FAQ). Some services use an address instead: for Teams, BrightHire asks you to add [email protected] to the invite (BrightHire).
- It joins through the link. At the meeting time, the vendor's server opens the link and joins like a guest, with a display name the vendor or your admin chooses. Metaview says any admin can customize its bot's name (Metaview FAQ).
- It waits to be let in. If the meeting has a waiting room or lobby, a host has to admit the bot. "The bot attempted to join but was not admitted by the meeting host from the waiting room or lobby" is one of the reasons Metaview lists for missing notes.
- It records while it is there. If someone removes it, recording stops. Metaview says a bot removed at the start of a call means the conversation is not processed.
- It leaves and processes. Transcripts and notes arrive after the call; Metaview says its notes are normally ready within five minutes, and it does not process calls shorter than one minute.
Because the bot runs in the cloud, it does not need its owner to be present. Fireflies' help center notes that when the meeting link is known from your calendar its notetaker is invited immediately, and "if your meeting platform requires approval, simply admit the Notetaker" (Fireflies help). Some plans also limit how many meetings one account's bot can attend at once; Otter lists one concurrent meeting on its free plan, two on Pro and three on Business (Otter pricing, as of October 2026).
What does a meeting bot record?
A bot hears and sees what any participant would, from the meeting platform's own stream. Depending on the product and plan, that can include:
- Audio, which becomes the transcript.
- Video and screen shares. Metaview says it records interview audio, video and code for technical interviews, with options to turn any of these off (Metaview FAQ). Greenhouse says its notes carry clickable timestamps back to the moment in the recording (Greenhouse Notetaker).
- Participant names as the platform shows them, which helps the service put names to voices; how that labeling works is explained in what is speaker diarization.
This is the main practical difference from on-device capture. Fireflies, for example, says its bot-free desktop mode does not save audio or video files, while its bot can; video recording sits on its paid plans (Fireflies pricing).
Who makes meeting bots?
Some note-taking companies build and run their own bots. Others build on infrastructure from a specialist. Recall.ai describes its Meeting Bot API as "an API to build meeting bots that record video calls," and sells a separate desktop SDK for recording "without a bot in the call" (Recall.ai, as of October 2026). Greenhouse's AI features table lists Recall.ai and OpenAI as the providers behind Greenhouse Notetaker (Greenhouse AI features).
That matters for a security review: the name on the bot may not be the only company handling the recording. Ask each vendor which subprocessors touch audio, video and transcripts; our security questions for AI note takers list the rest.
How do meeting platforms treat bots?
The host's platform and settings decide whether a bot gets in, which is why a bot that works on your own meetings can fail on a client's or a candidate's.
- Microsoft Teams detects external bots during the join process and, under the default policy ("When detected, require approval before joining"), places them in the lobby regardless of the meeting's lobby settings until an organizer explicitly admits them. Admins can switch detection off. Microsoft notes that some bots may not be detected and that humans are occasionally misclassified (Microsoft Learn, as of October 2026).
- Waiting rooms and lobbies on any platform give the host the same choice, one bot at a time.
- Organization settings can block a bot outright. Metaview lists "Your video conference settings blocked the Notetaker bot from joining this meeting" among its failure reasons.
What can go wrong with a meeting bot on interview day?
Metaview's help center publishes the reasons its notes can be missing, and they read as a checklist of how any bot fails (Metaview Notes FAQ, as of October 2026):
- The host never started the meeting, so the bot sat in an empty room.
- Nobody admitted it from the waiting room or lobby.
- Someone removed it at the start, or a user or admin disabled it beforehand.
- The candidate opted out, so it did not join.
- The organization's video settings blocked it.
- It hit an error joining, retried, and by then the meeting was well underway.
- The conversation's language was not supported for transcription.
Most of these are invisible to the interviewer until the notes fail to arrive. If notes matter for a decision, write your own short evidence notes during the call anyway, or confirm the bot is in the participant list before the first question.
What does the other person see and agree to?
They see an extra tile or name in the participant list, and often a platform recording notice. Recruiting vendors add their own consent steps, as of October 2026:
- Metaview says candidates are informed through touchpoints you configure and can opt out with a single click (Metaview FAQ).
- BrightHire says it sends consent notifications automatically before interviews and provides an opt-out (BrightHire).
- Greenhouse says candidates consent through self-scheduling or availability requests and can withdraw consent at any time (Greenhouse).
A visible bot is a form of notice, not a substitute for asking. Say it out loud at the start of the call; the interview recording consent script has wording. Recording rules vary by state and country, and this is not legal advice.
What are the pros and cons of meeting bots in interviews?
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Joins automatically from the calendar; nobody has to remember to start it | Can join meetings nobody meant to record, if automatic scheduling is on |
| Works without the owner present | Depends on the host admitting it, which fails on client- or candidate-hosted calls |
| Can record video and screen shares for later review | A named stranger in the call can make a candidate guarded |
| One central record for the whole hiring team | In a panel, several interviewers' bots may all try to join; see AI note takers for panel interviews |
| Nothing to install on the interviewer's computer | Covers video meetings only; phone screens need a separate route |
How do you stop or remove a meeting bot?
- In the meeting: remove it from the participant list. If it is waiting in the lobby, do not admit it.
- Before the meeting: in the vendor's app, turn off the bot for that event, or switch off automatic scheduling. Metaview, for example, shows which calls its bot is expected to join and lets you disable it for specific calls.
- Across your organization: use your platform's admin settings, such as the Teams external bot policy above, and agree a written rule for which tools may join external calls.
- Afterwards: delete a recording that should not exist, and check the vendor's retention settings so the next one is deleted on schedule.
What are the alternatives to a meeting bot?
Two other designs capture a call without an extra participant. A desktop or mobile app records audio on your own device, and the platform's built-in AI, such as Zoom's or Teams' meeting notes, works inside the meeting under the host's control. Each trades something: on-device capture needs you to attend and usually records audio only, and built-in tools depend on the host's license and settings. Interview Signal, which we make, is one example of the first kind: a desktop app that captures the interviewer's microphone and the meeting's sound with no bot. For the full comparison, see what is an AI note taker.
Questions people ask
What is a notetaker bot in a Zoom or Teams meeting?
It is software from an AI note-taking service that joins the meeting as an extra participant, usually named after the service or its user, so it can record and transcribe the call. It runs on the vendor's servers, not on anyone's computer, and sends notes to its owner after the meeting ends.
How does a meeting bot know which meetings to join?
Usually through a calendar connection. Once you connect your calendar, the service finds meetings with a video link and sends the bot automatically, or you invite it by hand, for example by adding the vendor's recorder email address to the invite. Metaview, for example, says its bot joins if it was manually invited or if any participant has automatic scheduling turned on.
Can a meeting host block AI notetaker bots?
Often, yes. A host can leave a bot in the waiting room or lobby and remove it from the participant list. Microsoft Teams goes further: as of October 2026 its default admin setting detects external bots and holds them in the lobby until an organizer explicitly admits them.
Is a meeting bot the same as an AI note taker?
No. A meeting bot is one way an AI note taker captures a call. Other note takers run as a desktop or mobile app and capture audio on your own device with no bot, and meeting platforms such as Zoom and Teams have built-in AI notes controlled by the host.