Can I use an AI notetaker on a client's Zoom or Teams call?

Yes, but only with the client's agreement. On their Zoom or Teams call, their settings apply, not yours: Teams holds detected bots in the lobby by default, and Zoom hosts can hold them in the Waiting Room or remove them. If they say no to a bot, ask about a bot-free local recorder, their own recording, or take notes by hand.

When the client sends the invite, the meeting lives in their Zoom account, their Microsoft 365 tenant or their Google Workspace. Your own settings do not travel with you. Their admins decide which tools may join, and their host decides who gets in. A notetaker bot is just another participant asking to come in, and the big platforms now spot many of them and ask the host first.

Teams has a meeting policy called “Manage external bots and their access to meetings”. Its default, “When detected, require approval before joining”, marks a detected bot in the lobby and keeps it there until someone explicitly admits it, whatever the meeting's usual lobby setting is. Microsoft says organizers are reminded about the risk before they admit a bot, and recommends letting only organizers and co-organizers admit people. Detection is not perfect: Microsoft notes that some bots are missed and some humans get flagged.

So if your notetaker sits in the lobby of a client's Teams call, that is not a glitch. It is the client's policy working, and the person who admits it is being asked to make a conscious choice.

Zoom admins can pre-approve or restrict automated meeting tools for their own account, and Zoom points out that this alone does not stop tools brought by external users, which is why it recommends the Waiting Room. Since March 2, 2026, apps built on Zoom's Meeting SDK that join meetings outside their own account must be authorized, for example with a token tied to a user who authorized the app and is already in the meeting. Hosts can still hold anyone in the Waiting Room or remove a participant.

Zoom's own recording to a computer is under the host's control too: a participant records to their device only if the host allows it or approves their request.

Meet hosts choose an access type. Under Trusted, people outside the host's organization who are not on the calendar invite must knock. Under Restricted, only invited guests and people the host adds during the meeting join without knocking. A bot that was not on the invite has to be let in by someone.

Getting a bot past the lobby is the small problem. These four things apply to manual notes, bots, local recorders and the host's own recording alike.

• Consent from the people on the call. Say you want to record or transcribe, say why, and ask. A yes from your contact does not cover the three colleagues they invited, so ask again at the start of the call.
• Your contract. Read the NDA, the master services agreement and any data processing terms. Some forbid recording, require written permission, or limit which third parties may process client data. A cloud transcription service is a third party.
• Recording law. US federal law needs one party's consent, but about 11 states, including California, Florida and Illinois, generally need everyone's. In the EU and the UK, data protection law also applies to recordings of people. When participants are in several places, follow the strictest rule.
• The client's own AI policy. Many companies keep a list of approved AI tools. If yours is not on it, that is a reason to ask, not a reason to keep quiet.

“No bot” is often a narrower request than “no notes”. Clients usually object to an unknown participant, a vendor they never reviewed, or a recording they cannot control. Pick the option that answers their actual concern.

Write down decisions, owners and dates rather than a transcript. Within an hour of the call, send a short recap and ask the client to correct it. The confirmed recap becomes the shared record, which is often what a client who refuses recording wanted all along.

A local recorder captures audio on your own computer, so nothing joins the call and nothing appears in the participant list. Reline works this way: it records your microphone and your computer's audio on Mac, Windows or Linux (beta), or in the browser, where call audio comes from sharing a tab in Chrome or Edge on a desktop computer. Transcription, AI summaries and storage run in the cloud, which is why it belongs in the contract conversation.

Because nothing shows up in the call, the client's bot controls never see it. That is exactly why it needs their explicit yes: those controls exist to give the client a say, and asking gives them that say back. Tell them what you use, where the data goes and who can read the notes. Reline notes are private by default, so only the people you explicitly share them with can open them.

Sometimes the cleanest answer is to let the client record. In Teams, guests and people from another organization cannot start the meeting recording, and everyone is notified when it starts, so ask the organizer to record and share the file or transcript afterwards. In Zoom, you can ask for permission to record to your computer, and the host decides.

Ask before the meeting, in writing, and once more out loud at the start. Short and specific works best.

Adjust the details to your tool and your contract. If one person hesitates, treat it as a no for the whole call.

1. Accept it on the spot, without pushing or asking them to justify it.
2. Before the meeting, turn off anything that records, including bots that join automatically from your calendar.
3. Take manual notes and send a recap for the client to confirm.
4. Ask what would work instead: their own recording, a short recap call, or recording only your internal prep sessions.
5. Write the decision into the engagement notes or the statement of work so your whole team follows it.
6. Never record anyway. Recording someone who said no can break the law, the contract and the relationship at once.

A clear no is useful information. Clients who see you respect it tend to trust your notes more, not less.

1. Check the contract for recording and data processing terms.
2. Ask in writing and name the tool.
3. If the answer is no, remove auto-join bots from that meeting.
4. Ask again at the start of the call.
5. Send a recap the client can correct.
6. Delete or archive the notes when the engagement or the contract says so.