Avoiding Third-Party Bots for Meeting Help

Using third-party bots and AI can offer convenience and efficiency when transcribing and recording virtual meetings. While the idea of automating transcription may seem appealing, it's essential to exercise caution and consider the potential security risks associated with third-party solutions.

Avoid third-party bots

Meetings may contain sensitive information that requires the guarantee of confidentiality and security. Third-party bots may have the ability to scrape your calendar for information, unknowingly transcribe or record meetings, save meetings in unknown places, and join meetings even when you’re not present. Avoid potentially risky third-party bots to keep meetings secure and private. 

Stanford has already blocked the following bots from being added to Zoom used by Stanford staff:

• OtterPilot
• Fireflies.ai
• Sembly
• Meet Record
• Grain
• Avoma
• Dubber
• Fathom
• Gong
• Colibri
• MeetGeek
• Sembly AI

This is not a complete list of third-party bots. Vendors can also change bots to bypass Stanford’s block. It is still recommended that third-party bots are not used in meetings or added to Zoom. 

Using Zoom for help with meetings

Zoom offers built-in transcription and recording features while prioritizing security and privacy. These are some of the ways Zoom keeps your meetings secure:

• Meeting participants are notified of recording, transcribing, and interpretation status.
• Meeting recordings are saved at the discretion of the meeting host. 
• Meeting hosts have the ability to kick out bots and unknown meeting attendees.

Best practices for using third-party bots and AI

Here are other ways to keep meetings secure: 

• Avoid improperly sharing meeting information through third-party calendar integrations.
• Use Stanford’s preferred software and apps.
• Use built-in app features when available.  
• For meetings that have confidential and sensitive topics, it is best to set up a waiting room to allow the host to remove any unwanted attendees before joining the meeting.
• Visit the Responsible AI at Stanford page for more best practices and guidelines about generative AI. 

If you have any questions about virtual meeting security, please submit a Help request.