AI Recruiting Academy › Module 3: Screening and interviewing with AI
The short answer
An AI note taker records an interview, turns the conversation into a transcript, and writes a summary. Tools built for recruiting go further: they map what the candidate said to your interview questions, draft the scorecard, and save everything to your applicant tracking system.
The payoff is that interviewers can listen instead of typing, and feedback is based on what was actually said. The catch is consent. Recording someone without the right permission can break wiretap laws, and a lawsuit against one of the best known note takers is testing exactly that.
What does an AI note taker do?
There are two kinds, and they suit different jobs.
| Feature | General meeting note taker | Recruiting interview note taker |
|---|---|---|
| Records and transcribes | Yes | Yes |
| Summary | Meeting notes and action items | Evidence organized by interview question and competency |
| Scorecard | No | Drafts it for the interviewer to review |
| ATS connection | Rare | Saves notes to the candidate record |
| Hiring controls | Few | Can hide or skip topics such as age, family or health |
Most tools work in one of two ways. A bot joins the Zoom, Teams or Google Meet call as a visible participant, or an app records on the interviewer’s own device. The bot approach is the one drawing legal attention.
Why do recruiters use AI note takers?
Better listening. An interviewer who is not typing asks better follow up questions and notices more.
Evidence based feedback. Scorecards can quote what the candidate said, instead of relying on memory written up hours later.
Faster debriefs. Hiring managers can read a two minute summary rather than wait for everyone’s notes.
Interviewer coaching. Transcripts show who talks too much, who skips questions, and who asks things they should not.
Is it legal to record an interview with AI?
This is an overview, not legal advice. Recording laws differ by state and country. Many US states allow recording when one person on the call agrees, but a number of states, including California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Washington, require every party to agree. For a video interview across states, the safest habit is to get everyone’s consent every time.
Note takers are now in court over this. In August 2025 a California man sued Otter.ai, claiming its note taker recorded a conversation without his consent and used conversations to train its AI. According to the complaint, when a host has linked their calendar, the bot may join a meeting without asking the other participants. Three similar suits followed and were combined as In re Otter.AI Privacy Litigation. These are allegations, not findings, and the case is still in progress. Employment lawyers at Fisher Phillips note that the vendor’s terms push consent onto customers, which means onto you.
Two other risks matter in hiring. Some note takers build a voiceprint to tell speakers apart, and Illinois’s biometric privacy law regulates voiceprints. And candidates sometimes share things you should not use in a decision, such as a health condition or pregnancy. Once it is in a transcript, it is stored.
How do you get consent the right way?
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| In the invitation | Say the interview will be recorded and transcribed with an AI tool, and why |
| At the start of the call | Ask out loud: “Are you comfortable with me recording and transcribing this with an AI note taker?” |
| If they say no | Turn it off and take notes by hand. A no should never count against them |
| Panel interviews | Confirm every interviewer knows and agrees, not only the candidate |
| Auto join settings | Switch off automatic joining so the bot never arrives unannounced |
What should you check before you choose a note taker?
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Is our data used to train the vendor’s AI? | Candidate conversations should not become training data |
| How long are recordings kept, and can we delete them? | You may need to delete on request |
| Does it ask all participants for consent? | Host only consent is the issue in the Otter case |
| Does it create voiceprints? | Biometric laws such as Illinois’s may apply |
| Can it skip protected topics? | Keeps age, family and health out of summaries |
| Does the interviewer approve the scorecard? | The judgment should be a person’s, not the tool’s |
Can you trust the AI summary?
Mostly, but not blindly. Summaries are written by a large language model, which can drop a detail, merge two answers, or state something the candidate never said. Speaker labels also get mixed up on panel calls.
Keep one rule: the interviewer reads the summary against their own memory before submitting feedback, and writes the hiring recommendation themselves. The AI drafts the evidence. The person makes the call.
Quick answers
Do I have to tell candidates I am using an AI note taker?
You should, every time. In states that require every party’s consent, recording without it can be illegal, and telling candidates costs you nothing.
Can the note taker score candidates for me?
Many can draft a score. Treat it as a suggestion, and never let it submit feedback on its own.
Should I use a free note taker for interviews?
Check the terms first. Free plans are the most likely to use your recordings for training and the least likely to offer deletion controls.
What if a candidate shares something sensitive?
Do not use it in your decision, and follow your company’s policy on removing it from the record. A tool that can skip protected topics helps here.
Explore in the directory
Module 3: Screening and interviewing with AI
- What is AI resume screening?
- What is an AI interviewer?
- What does an AI note taker do in an interview?
- How does AI interview scheduling work?
- What is candidate fraud, and how do you spot a deepfake?