There are an increasing number of AI services for meeting transcription and summarisation services, including Otter.Ai and Read.Ai. These services can record meeting notes and provide transcriptions to all attendees.
Whilst these tools can provide benefits including for accessibility, it is also important to consider privacy implications and data security. You can find out more about AI transcript tools in this Knowledge Base article. If you need support uninstalling AI services, please contact ServiceLine and they will be happy to help you.
Using AI transcript tools.
The University does not recommend the use of any services that store data outside the UK or EU. Otter.Ai and Read.Ai are both US based, and their privacy practices do not fully align with EU and UK regulations.
If you are using an AI tool in a meeting, it is important to ensure you have informed the meeting participants and gained consent to use the tool – many of the apps will also directly email the meeting participants the transcription and meeting notes, so please do notify people if that is the case.
You may wish to consider the level of confidentiality of the meeting and whether using an external service is appropriate. AI tools may appear in the lobbies of meetings with the extension .ai and should not be granted access until the attendees have agreed to it. Microsoft Teams has a meeting transcript function which can be utilised if needed.
Whilst AI tools are very sophisticated, they are not always accurate and any notes will need to be carefully checked and reviewed.
AI is a rapidly developing field and the University is continuing to review and assess our guidance alongside these developments.
Resources
Knowledge Base: AI transcript tools
Student information: Information on artificial intelligence tools and academic work
Generative AI working Group SharePoint
University Data Sharing Policy
Transcription is considered processing and therefore in scope for Data Protection legislation, so all the usual principles of necessity, lawfulness and transparency apply, and the University is responsible for the management of any data subject rights
If you are engaging third party applications on a large scale, or using it to record any material that includes sensitive personal data you may also need to consider whether an additional risk assessment, such as a DPIA, is needed.
We are aware that there is an ongoing issue affecting SUSSED links when off-site, and are working to find a solution. In the meantime, please connect to GlobalProtect to resolve this issue, or navigate directly to https://sotonac.sharepoint.com/