TL;DRAI tools now record conversations without announcing themselves, and users are bringing them to dates and personal chats
A growing number of professionals have started using AI tools to record every conversation they have, and the people being recorded usually have no idea it is happening. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that apps like Granola, which transcribes meetings without deploying a visible bot or announcing its presence, have made ambient recording so frictionless that users are now bringing the technology out of conference rooms and into personal settings. The shift raises legal and ethical questions that neither the tools nor their users appear ready to answer.
Granola, which raised 125 million dollars earlier this year at a valuation of one and a half billion dollars, works by recording audio directly through the user’s device microphone rather than joining a call as a separate participant. That means no bot icon appears in the meeting and no automated message tells attendees they are being recorded. Michelle Lim, CEO of meeting software company Flint, told the Journal that she wishes Granola were running in every room she enters, a statement that captures both the appeal and the problem.
