How to produce meeting minutes with AI

What AI is good for here

Writing up minutes takes time that most officers do not have. An AI assistant can turn scattered notes into tidy paragraphs, group points under agenda items and pull out action points with owners and deadlines. Some tools can also produce a written transcription of an audio recording. The result is a first draft. The minutes are only final when the person responsible for them has checked and approved them.

Before you start: consent and uploads

1. Recording needs agreement. Tell everyone at the start if the meeting is being recorded and why. If anyone objects or your department does not allow recording for that kind of meeting, take written notes instead. See consent.
2. Check your department's rules on uploads. Many offices do not allow official recordings or notes to be uploaded to a public chatbot. Use only tools your department has approved for official material and follow its information security instructions.
3. Keep sensitive meetings out. Do not upload anything from meetings on classified matters, personnel cases, disciplinary proceedings or citizens' personal details. See personal data and data leakage.

Step by step

1. Prepare your notes. Type them up roughly under each agenda item. Replace names of citizens and any sensitive details with placeholders such as "[Applicant]" or "[Case 1]".
2. Give the tool the structure. Paste the agenda and say what format your office uses: meeting title, date, chair, attendees, items discussed, decisions and action points.
3. Ask for a draft. Say how long it should be and what tone you need. Ask it to list decisions and actions separately from discussion.
4. Check the draft against your notes. Read every line. Make sure nothing has been added that was not said and nothing important has been dropped.
5. Restore the real details yourself. Put names, file references and dates back in by hand.
6. Circulate for approval. Send the draft to the chair or the officer responsible before it goes on file.

Checking decisions and action points

This is the part that matters most. A summary can sound confident and still be wrong. AI may:

• record a proposal as if it were a decision
• merge two separate points into one
• give an action to the wrong person or invent a deadline
• smooth over a disagreement that should be on record
• fill a gap with something plausible but untrue. See hallucination

For each decision, ask yourself: was this actually agreed, by whom and in what words? If you are not sure, check with the chair. Do not let a neat draft replace your own memory of the meeting.

Example instructions

Turn these notes into formal minutes. Use headings for each agenda item. Under each, write a short summary of discussion, then "Decision:" and "Action:" with owner and date. Use placeholders where names are missing. Do not add anything not in the notes.

From these minutes, list every action point in a table with three columns: action, responsible officer, deadline. Mark any action that has no owner or date as "to be confirmed".

What not to use it for

• Minutes of meetings whose content is classified or confidential, unless an approved tool is available
• Recording sensitive personnel or disciplinary discussions
• Deciding what the meeting "really meant" when the record is unclear

AI can save you an hour of typing. The responsibility for an accurate record stays with you. See accountability.

For ready-made wording, use the meeting minutes prompt.