I recently hosted a virtual global call for Transformation Executive leaders.
One of the participants, Rachel was unable to join the call, so she politely declined and sent her apologies.
At the start of the call which was attended by 20 other participants, I noticed that ‘Rachel’s Bot’ joined the call. This Bot was powered by a newly emerging AI software tool.
As anticipated, ‘Rachel’s Bot’ was unresponsive to voice when I called out to it, but then via the chat functionality available in the call, immediately started to transcribe the conversation and took actions from the call.
After a few more minutes, it was clear that the transcription was not a true reflection of the conversation. I promptly removed ‘Rachel’s Bot’ from the conversation because it was firstly a distraction, but also that the other participants had not agreed to a Bot attending to listen and transcribe the meeting.
I then contacted Rachel to inform her that she had sent her Bot to the meeting. She was not aware that she had performed this and had forgotten to remove the software after trialing it.
I am interested to know your thoughts. In the future, as the functionality of AI progresses, would you be comfortable if a colleague sends a Bot on their behalf if they are unable to make the meeting? Would you send a Bot to a meeting on your behalf? Is it ethical? Saving Changes...
Well, if the Bot can get some extensive individualized training, consume and train upon all the relevant project documentation that is relevant for the meeting - i believe it will be able to provide certain feedback.
In case some decisions are required - i guess some sort of setting/sensitivity can be added.
These cases, however, are completely not covered by working processes in vast majority of the organisations - which is what you also mention a couple of posts up - so we have to sort the lack of internal governance on this topic.
But in case the AI development allows, i see a more usefull application in cancelling the meeting, making AI responsible for reviewing all the documents and status updates from project streams - and presenting appropriate summaries to decisionmakes where necessary.
P.S: we have to look out, its out to get our jobs for itself :)
President and CEO of PMI| Owner, NeuronVenturesNew York City, United States
Very interesting story. Quite worrisome too. It could have been anyone impersonating an absentee and reporting the entire conversation to a competitor. Definitely would not allow that without some security processes in place. Saving Changes...
President and CEO of PMI| Owner, NeuronVenturesNew York City, United States
Aug 17, 2023 1:29 PM
Replying to Thomas Walenta
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Hmm,
feeling uncomfortable may be a sign of upcoming change.
When emails came up in the 1990s, many resisted. Even in mid-2000s some executives asked their PAs to print each email.
Meetings have a variety of reasons and format, they are generally about communication, exchange of information, highlighting issues, asking for help etc. If bots are enabled and empowered they could help making meetings more effective. At least they can reduce emotions and conflicts and level hierarchies.
Information security is an issue and can be implemented by setting and enforcing rules, that can be better followed by bots than humans (humans are the greatest risk for cybersecurity).
Last year, PMI HQ piloted the use of a meeting minutes AI, sembly.ai, not sure about the results.
we do use it - now the question is: who ever reads meetings minutes? Saving Changes...
Very interesting story. I think that I could allow the bot at one o'clock with the proviso why he is here and that he should hand over to the owner if the owner could not be present. It all depends on the capabilities of the bot, and I would make decisions after fully understanding the functions of the bot Saving Changes...
Luis Fernando MirandaInternational Project Manager| Coca-Cola EuroPacific PartnersMadrid, Madrid, Spain
If the bot is only transcribing and summarizing action points, I would send it. If it interferes with the meeting, I would not. Specially because we are not at a point where a bot can really represent the criteria of a particular person. AI still has many biases and hallucinations. Saving Changes...
Rich WellerMBA, PMP, Project Certified, Agile Certified, AI Credentials| MIGSO-PCUBEDMilan, Mi, United States
I find this a VERY interesting discussion thread!
I have a personal digital assistant (a bot). I have been working WITH it for years. It attends all of the meetings that are on my calendar.....whether I am personally able to attend or not. It announces itself upon arrival to the meeting. It accurately captures the transcript of Who said What. After the meeting is over, I can see a well written SUMMARY of the meeting and it does a good job of capturing initial Action Items, the Requestor as well as the Assigned To person. I ABSOLUTELY gain value from this AI solution. It has saved me many times. Let me know if you would like to personally talk about...or see how I work with my personal digital assistant. Saving Changes...
Senior Advisor to the CEO| PMISterling, Va, United States
Hi Lissa! First of all congrats again on being elected to PMI's BoD! You're going to make an amazing contribution there.
I think that over time, people get used to anything and perhaps in the months and years to come this sort of thing will feel normal. I know that meeting recordings, transcription, and meeting summary software seemed really intrusive a year ago, but now they help a lot - providing an easy way for those who didn't make the meeting to get up to speed.
I personally like being able to watch a recording of a meeting I missed. I also really like it when software can identify and note actions in that transcript, because "actions" are one of those basic things that we all forget about from time to time.
But what you said about permission is super important. People should be aware of what the technology is doing and be able to say "no" if they like.
I don't think we're at the point where a bot actually participates in a meeting, offers input or makes any sort of decision - although I know many companies are working on these sort of digital agents (e.g. - https://bit.ly/3LgVBGj ). That's going to be a whole new world. Saving Changes...
Lissa thank you for the question. It happened also for one of my meetings. If someone is not present, then the meeting can be recorded and there are minutes. I will not feel confortable letting a bot on behalf of someone come. In your case, Rachel was not aware but in an online course, I took part, I remember one participant had also sent a bot. Meetings sometimes share confidential information. For me it has to be compliant with the organization's policy and to be agreed with the team members.
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1 reply by Antonio Collante
Sep 08, 2023 6:34 PM
Antonio Collante
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This is an excellent point. I think people use this technology without really care about the implications. Responsible AI starts by ourselves. Meeting are for humans - if you can not attend the meeting, then read the minutes. I think we are trying to over-digitize everything.
Lissa thank you for the question. It happened also for one of my meetings. If someone is not present, then the meeting can be recorded and there are minutes. I will not feel confortable letting a bot on behalf of someone come. In your case, Rachel was not aware but in an online course, I took part, I remember one participant had also sent a bot. Meetings sometimes share confidential information. For me it has to be compliant with the organization's policy and to be agreed with the team members.
This is an excellent point. I think people use this technology without really care about the implications. Responsible AI starts by ourselves. Meeting are for humans - if you can not attend the meeting, then read the minutes. I think we are trying to over-digitize everything. Saving Changes...
In this multi cultural global hybrid & virtual working world, generally applying AI software tools creates confusion than getting common consensus in meetings. Human interaction is better and essential to yield value for our time especially in virtual meetings rather AI bots. Saving Changes...
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