AI meeting notes: three ways with ChatGPT

In short

• You can take meeting notes with AI in three ways: record a meeting with ChatGPT Record, have an existing transcript worked up, or dictate your notes afterwards.
• ChatGPT Record only works in the macOS app, on paid plans. The other two methods work everywhere.
• Always check the notes yourself, and ask for consent beforehand if you record other people.

Can you take meeting notes with ChatGPT? Yes, and in more ways than you might think. With ChatGPT Record you record a meeting and afterwards get a summary with decisions and action items. If you do not work on a Mac, you can have ChatGPT work up a transcript from Teams, Zoom or Google Meet, or dictate the main points yourself after the meeting.

Two conditions always apply. You check the notes before you share them, because AI makes mistakes with names, numbers and who does what. And if you record other people, you ask for their consent first. Below you can read how each method works, with a prompt you can use straight away.

Three ways to take meeting notes with AI

Method 1: recording a meeting with ChatGPT Record

With Record, ChatGPT records a conversation, transcribes it and puts the summary in a canvas in your chat. You can then turn that into an email, a project plan or a task list (OpenAI, n.d.).

This is how it works:

1. Open the ChatGPT app on your Mac and click Record at the bottom of a chat. The first time, you grant access to the microphone and system audio.
2. Let the recording run. You can pause in between. A session stops automatically after 4 hours.
3. Click Stop and then Send. ChatGPT creates the transcript and the notes.
4. Check the result and ask for the format you need, for example with the prompt further down.

A few things to know, according to OpenAI itself:

• Record distinguishes multiple speakers. If it cannot recognise a name, it shows "Speaker 1"; you can rename speakers afterwards.
• It works best in English. In other languages, such as Dutch, accuracy can vary.
• In Enterprise and Edu workspaces, Record is off by default; an admin has to enable it.
• Automatically joining a meeting from your calendar only works with Google Meet. For Teams or Zoom, you start the recording yourself in the app.

Method 2: working up an existing transcript

Working on Windows or on your phone, or does your meeting app already create a transcript? Then this is often the easiest route. Teams, Zoom and Google Meet can transcribe a meeting, depending on your licence. Download the transcript, paste or upload it into ChatGPT and use the prompt below.

The advantage: the transcript is also kept outside ChatGPT, and you decide which part you share.

Method 3: dictating your notes afterwards

No recording made? After the meeting, open the ChatGPT app, use voice mode or the dictation button and describe what was discussed: the decisions, who will do what and what is still open. ChatGPT turns that into clear notes.

You can add your own notes to that: typed notes from Word or Notion, or a photo of handwritten notes. ChatGPT combines those sources into one record. This method works on any device and records nobody; only your own summary goes to ChatGPT.

The prompt: getting notes you can use

Whichever method you choose, the result improves when you say up front what you want. You can use this prompt straight away and adapt it to your own format:

Write meeting notes of this discussion in English.

Use this structure:
1. Date, attendees and subject
2. Decisions (one line per decision)
3. Action items as a table: what, who, due when
4. Open items and questions for the next meeting

Rules:
- Only include what is in the source. Do not invent names, dates or amounts.
- If something is unclear, add [check] after it.
- Write in a concise, businesslike way, without verbatim quotes.

By having the AI flag what is unclear, you immediately see where to look when you review.

Always check before you share

AI meeting notes are a good first draft, not a finished product. OpenAI itself notes that ChatGPT can make mistakes, including in transcriptions. So before sending, check:

• Names and assignments. Is it right who does what?
• Numbers and dates. Amounts, deadlines and percentages are misheard most often.
• Decisions. Is something listed as a decision that was only an idea?

Anyone who attended the meeting can do this in a few minutes. That is still faster than taking the notes yourself.

Privacy and consent

If you record other people, you are responsible for the right consent. OpenAI says so literally: check local laws and get the right consents before recording. In practice: say at the start that you are recording and why, and explicitly ask external participants such as clients for their agreement.

Also pay attention to what happens to the data:

• According to OpenAI, the audio is deleted after transcription and not used to train models.
• On Plus and Pro, transcripts and notes can be used for training if the setting "Improve the model for everyone" is on. Turn it off for business use.
• On Business, Enterprise and Edu, business content is excluded from training by default.

When not to take notes with AI

Not every conversation is suitable. For confidential conversations, such as about staff or health, it is better not to record anything. For formal minutes, such as those of a supervisory board or a members' meeting, the exact wording matters; use AI at most for a first draft and let the minute-taker write the final version.

Rolling it out across your team?

Want your whole team to work this way consistently, with clear agreements on privacy? In the workshop Getting started with AI we practise everyday applications such as summarising and writing reports. And in an AI workplace we set up transcription of conversations in your own environment, together with the agreements on access and retention.

Want to know the best approach for your meetings? Book a free conversation.

Sources

• OpenAI Help Center (n.d., accessed 28 September 2026). ChatGPT Record.