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Field Note: In Defense Of AI Notetakers · AI Tools for Practicing Lawyers

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to AI Tools for Practicing Lawyers.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Practical, no-nonsense guidance to help attorneys put AI power to work in their practice right now.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Recently, my wife sent me an article from Fast Company titled Why You Should Think Twice Before Letting an AI Notaker in Your Meeting.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: And she knows me well because one of my continuing hot takes is that lawyers should record everything because every meeting, every phone call, even meetings in the hallway are data.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: And in the AI age, data is the infrastructure of a law firm and a legal matter.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't want to record everything, don't record everything, don't save the data.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that's the AI-forward way of managing that information.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: So getting back to my wife, whenever she sees an article about AI, especially one that's skeptical, she might send it my way, although she is definitely becoming an AI evangelist.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, she sends it my way because she knows I'm probably going to have a reaction, and I did.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now, before you think I'm going to dismiss the article, let me say this.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: I actually agree with many of the concerns it raises.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Confidential information matters.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Personnel discussions matter.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Trade secrets matter, right?
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Attorney client privilege matters.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: These are all legitimate concerns.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: But here's my hot take.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think this article is really about AI.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's an article about information governance, and that's a big difference.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: The article says AI note takers turn everything said during meetings into data.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, that's the whole point.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: But everything said in your meetings is already data.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: If someone takes a handwritten note, that's data.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: If someone types meeting minutes, that's data.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you record a Zoom meeting, that's data.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: If there's a court reporter in the room, that's data.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: The AI didn't invent data, it just organizes it.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: So the article also worries that confidential information could end up in the wrong hands.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: But so could your email.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: So could your Microsoft 365 account.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: So could your Dropbox or Google Drive.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: So could the legal assistant who accidentally attaches the wrong document to an email.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: So could anything that's sitting on your desk when the cleaning crew comes through every night.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Every system that stores information carries risk.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: So the question isn't whether there is risk.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Of course there's risk.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: The question is whether you're managing that risk appropriately.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's where information governance comes in.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Who has access?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Where is the data stored?
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Is it encrypted?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: How long is it retained?
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Is the vendor contractually prohibited from training models on your data?
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Can your administrator delete recordings?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Can recording be disabled altogether?
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: These are the questions sophisticated organizations ask.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Notice that none of those questions are really about artificial intelligence.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: They're about trust.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: They're about vendors, they're about security.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: And lawyers have been asking those questions for decades.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Remember when lawyers said they'd never put client files in the cloud?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now most firms use Microsoft 365 or NetDocuments or a Google Workspace.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Many use other cloud-based practice management systems like Clio.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: They email privileged documents, they store files online, they conduct Zoom meetings, they text clients.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Those decisions weren't made because cloud technology was risk-free.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: They were made because the benefits outweighed the risks when paired with appropriate safeguards.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: And AI deserves the same analysis.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the mistake I think we make.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: We hear the letters AI and suddenly we treat the technology as though it's fundamentally different from every other cloud service we already use.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, podcast guest Carolyn Elifant talks about this a lot in her content.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: We hear the letters AI, and suddenly, in many cases, it's not any different than other cloud services.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: The real question isn't, do I trust AI?
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: The real question is, do I trust this vendor with this information under this security model?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's a much better question.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: And it's one that every lawyer, every law firm, and every business should be asking.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: So when my wife sent me this article, I didn't see a warning about AI.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: I saw a reminder that organizations need to become better stewards of their information.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's a conversation worth having because the future isn't about avoiding AI, it's about learning how to use it wisely.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Ron Drescher, and this is AI Tools for Practicing Lawyers.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you next time.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's it for today's episode of AI Tools for Practicing Lawyers.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you next time.