How to Turn Off the AI Notetaker in Google Meet (2026)
Two different things get called "the notetaker" in Google Meet. Here is how to switch off each one, as a host, as a guest and as a Workspace admin.
In this article
To turn off the AI notetaker in Google Meet, check which one it is. For Gemini "Take notes for me", click it at the top right and stop it, then set Settings > Meeting records > Automatic note taking to Off. For a bot such as Otter or Fireflies, open People, remove it, and turn off auto-join in its app.
Which notetaker is in your call?
Two different things get called "the notetaker" in Google Meet, and the fix depends on which one you are looking at.
| What you see | What it is | Who can turn it off |
|---|---|---|
| A pencil icon and a notice that notes are being taken | Gemini "Take notes for me", built into Meet | The host and co-hosts; with Host management off, also people from the organizer’s organization |
| A participant named "Otter.ai", "Fireflies.ai Notetaker", "Read.ai" or "tl;dv" | A third-party bot that joined like a guest | The host or a co-host removes it; only its owner can stop it coming back |
How do I turn off Gemini "Take notes for me" during a meeting?
- Click "Take notes for me" at the top right of the meeting screen.
- Stop note-taking. You can also open Meeting tools from the notification and stop "Take notes for me" and transcription there.
- Notes stop for the whole meeting. What was captured before you stopped stays in the notes document, which Google saves to the organizer’s Google Drive and emails to the organizer after the call.
Who is allowed to do this: by default, the organizer and participants from the organizer’s organization can start or stop notes. If Host management is on, only hosts and co-hosts can. External guests cannot stop them.
If you are a guest and cannot stop it
- Ask the host or a co-host to stop it. It takes them a few seconds.
- If the call has not started yet and you have an eligible Workspace account, you can turn off "Take notes for me" and transcription in the green room, before you join. Google added this control in February 2026.
- If your organization asks for consent to these features, Meet shows a prompt when notes start, and you can choose Leave instead of Continue.
How do I stop Gemini taking notes automatically?
If notes start on their own, the meeting is set to take them automatically. Switch that off in the place it was switched on.
For every meeting you host
- Go to meet.google.com and click Settings at the top right.
- In the left column, choose Meeting records.
- Under "Automatic note taking for all future meetings", choose Off. The other choices are "For all scheduled meetings I host" and "For all scheduled meetings I host with 3+ guests".
- Save.
For one calendar event or a recurring series
- Open the event in Google Calendar and click Edit event.
- Click Video call options, then Meeting records in the left column.
- Uncheck "Take notes with Gemini" and save.
Why a weekly meeting keeps switching notes back on: when a host starts notes, the option "Also turn it on for future instances of this meeting" is preselected. Unchecking "Take notes with Gemini" on the event clears it for the series. On a work or school account, your admin can also switch notes on automatically for certain meetings.
For the whole organization (Workspace admins)
- In the Google Admin console, go to Menu > Apps > Google Workspace > Google Meet. You need the Google Meet administrator privilege.
- Click Gemini settings, then Gemini note-taking (some consoles still show it as Google AI note-taking).
- Uncheck "Let people use Gemini note-taking in meetings".
- Click Save, or Override to apply it to one organizational unit or group only.
Google says the change can take up to 24 hours. It only switches off Google’s own notes. Third-party bots are not affected.
How do I remove an AI notetaker bot from Google Meet?
Otter, Fireflies, Read.ai and tl;dv join Meet as participants, so you remove them like a participant. You need to be the host or a co-host or, if Host management is off, someone from the organizer’s organization.
- Open the People panel.
- Find the bot, for example "Otter.ai" or "Fireflies.ai Notetaker", and click More options next to its name.
- Choose "Remove from the call". Meet also offers to block it from rejoining. That block covers only this meeting, not your other meetings.
Some bots also leave on a chat message, which helps when you are not the host:
- Otter: anyone in the meeting can type "stop otter" in the chat, and every Otter notetaker leaves.
- Read AI: type "Read Stop" to make it leave and still produce a report of what it heard, or "Opt Out" to make it leave with nothing saved. Read says that in Google Meet, if even one participant declines, it does not join.
- Fireflies: if it is removed within its first 3 minutes, Fireflies creates no transcript or notes.
- tl;dv: deny the bot when it asks to join at the start of the meeting.
How do I keep AI notetakers out of my next Google Meet?
As the host: make bots ask, then say no
Meet has three meeting access types. Change them in Host controls (bottom right) during a call, or in Video call options on the Calendar event before it.
| Access type | Who joins without asking | What it means for bots |
|---|---|---|
| Open | Anyone with the meeting link | A bot with the link walks straight in |
| Trusted (the default) | People in the host’s organization, and guests invited on the Calendar event | A bot that is not on the invite has to ask, and you can deny it |
| Restricted | Only guests on the Calendar event and people a host invites during the call | Same for bots; uninvited colleagues have to ask too |
- Turn on Host management so only hosts and co-hosts can remove people and stop notes.
- Uncheck "Anyone with the meeting link can ask to join" if you want uninvited guests declined automatically, with no request for you to deny.
- Check the guest list for a notetaker address. Fireflies, for example, is invited as fred@fireflies.ai; Fireflies says removing that address from the event stops it joining.
If it is your own notetaker: turn off auto-join
| Tool | Setting to change, per the vendor’s help center |
|---|---|
| Otter | Integrations > Meetings tab > Default auto-join settings > "Meetings I manually select". Events you switched by hand keep their setting, so check your calendar too. |
| Fireflies | Auto-join setting: "Only when I invite fred@fireflies.ai". Recording Rules can also skip meetings by keyword, email address or domain. |
| Read AI | In your Read Calendar, turn off "Add Read?" for the meeting a few minutes before it starts. Sessions of a recurring meeting can be switched off one by one. |
| tl;dv | Preferences page > Automations: turn off "Auto-record calendar events". tl;dv then joins only when you add it yourself. |
For a tool you no longer use, also take away its access to your Google account: in your Google Account, open your third-party connections, select the app and choose Remove access. Google notes this does not delete data the app already has; for that, ask the vendor.
As a Workspace admin: keep bots out for everyone
- Cut the calendar access that drives auto-join. In the Admin console, go to Security > Access and data control > API controls > Manage App Access, find the notetaker apps your users connected and set them to Blocked.
- Set safer meeting defaults. Under Apps > Google Workspace > Google Meet > Meet safety settings, set the default Access Type and turn on Host management for the organizational units that need it.
- Decide who may join meetings your organization creates. The Domain setting offers "Only users from your organization or users dialing in using a phone", "Users signed in with a Google account or dialing in using a phone" and "All users, including those not signed in with a Google account". The first keeps every outsider out, human or bot, so it suits internal-only teams, not teams that meet clients.
- Switch off Gemini note-taking under Gemini settings if you do not want Google’s own notes either (steps above).
Blocking app access stops your own users’ notetakers from reading your calendars. It does not stop a guest from another company sending their own bot to the meeting link, which is why the access settings in steps 2 and 3 still matter.
Want notes without a bot in the call?
Many people remove notetakers because of the bot, not because of the notes. If that is you, some notetakers record from your own computer instead of joining the call. Reline is one: it records your microphone and your computer’s audio, in the desktop app on macOS, Windows and Linux (beta) or in the browser, so nothing appears in the Meet participant list. The audio is transcribed and summarised in the cloud, not on your device.
It does not remove anyone else’s bot, and you still need to tell people you are recording where the law or your company’s policy requires it.
Sources
- Google Meet Help, "Take notes for me in Google Meet": support.google.com/meet/answer/14754931
- Google Meet Help, "Calendar & Meet settings for take notes for me": support.google.com/meet/answer/16909639
- Google Workspace Admin Help, "Let Google Meet AI take notes for my users": support.google.com/a/answer/15071792
- Google Workspace Updates, "New user controls for take notes for me" (19 February 2026) and "Take notes for me controls" (8 January 2026): workspaceupdates.googleblog.com
- Google Workspace Learning Center, "Tips to set up business meetings" (meeting access types): support.google.com/a/users/answer/12172260
- Google Meet Help, "Add or remove people from a Google Meet meeting or call": support.google.com/meet/answer/9303164
- Google Workspace Admin Help, "Manage Meet settings" and "Manage meeting access settings for your users": knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/meet
- Google Workspace Updates, "Additional admin controls for joining Google Meet calls" (June 2021): workspaceupdates.googleblog.com
- Google Workspace Admin Help, "Control which third-party & internal apps access Google Workspace data": support.google.com/a/answer/60757
- Google Account Help, "Manage third-party apps & services with access to your account": support.google.com/accounts/answer/3466521
- Otter.ai Help, "Remove Otter Notetaker from your meeting" and "Stop Otter Notetaker from automatically joining your meetings": help.otter.ai
- Fireflies.ai Guide, "How to remove Fireflies from a meeting (or stop it from joining)": guide.fireflies.ai
- Read AI, "How to stop Read AI from joining my meetings": read.ai/articles
- tl;dv Help Center, "How to stop tl;dv" and "Understanding and setting your preferences": intercom.help/tldv
Common questions
- How do I turn off the notetaker in Google Meet?
- If it is Gemini "Take notes for me", click it at the top right of the meeting and stop it. To keep it from starting again, go to meet.google.com > Settings > Meeting records and set "Automatic note taking for all future meetings" to Off. If it is a bot such as Otter or Fireflies, the host removes it from the People panel and its owner turns off auto-join in the bot’s own app.
- How do I remove an AI notetaker from Google Meet if I am not the host?
- If Host management is off and you belong to the organizer’s organization, you can remove it from the People panel yourself. Otherwise ask the host. Some bots leave on a chat message: "stop otter" removes Otter, and "Read Stop" or "Opt Out" removes Read AI. External guests cannot stop Gemini notes; eligible Workspace users can switch them off in the green room before the call starts.
- Why does Gemini keep taking notes in my meetings?
- Usually because automatic note taking is on for meetings you host, because "Take notes with Gemini" is checked on the Calendar event, or because a host started notes with "Also turn it on for future instances of this meeting" selected. On work and school accounts, an admin can also switch notes on automatically for certain meetings.
- Why does Otter or Fireflies keep joining after I removed it?
- Removing a bot only clears the current meeting. It is sent by someone’s connected calendar, so it returns at the next occurrence. Its owner has to turn off auto-join, or you remove its address from the invite, keep the meeting on Trusted or Restricted access and deny it when it asks to join.
- Does removing the notetaker delete what it already recorded?
- No. Gemini’s notes on the part before you stopped are saved to the organizer’s Google Drive. A third-party bot keeps what it captured in its owner’s account; the one exception we found is Fireflies, which creates no notes if removed within its first 3 minutes. Removing an app’s access to your Google account does not delete data it already has.
- Can a Google Workspace admin block AI notetakers in Meet?
- Yes, in layers. Admins can switch off Gemini note-taking in Meet’s Gemini settings, block notetaker apps under Security > API controls > Manage App Access, and tighten Meet safety settings such as Access Type, Host management and who can join. Google says changes can take up to 24 hours.
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