Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

341–350 of 405 posts

Re: AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

#341

Post by tstrimple »

varispeed wrote: post #304
varispeed wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are real whether or not you see their faces or chat daily. Framing daily standups as "humanising" can end up dehumanising those who find enforced face time and small talk uncomfortable or exhausting - especially neurodivergent team members. Inclusivity means recognising that not everyone bonds the same way.

Surprised by the downvotes, honestly. Inclusivity isn't about asking everyone to conform to neurotypical norms - it's about creating space for different ways of working and communicating. If even mentioning that feels unwelcome, that says something worth reflecting on.

I think the issue it that you're speaking to an ideal that doesn't tend to stand up in reality. The reality is if people stop seeing your face in meetings people are less likely to think about you. This may feel good to the stereotypical introvert who just wants to get things done and be left alone. But it can be a career killer. This is very apparent in hybrid companies where folks in the office with incidental face time have an easier time advancing than remote employees regardless of value added. We can state that it's not fair and things should be different and more inclusive but that doesn't do anything to actually make environments more inclusive.

Re: AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

#342

Post by squigz »

dfxm12 wrote: post #338
squigz wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of thought that can be put into writing as a function of total time thinking/communicating is probably nearly the same or less than talking. That is, if you spend a second figuring out what you're going to say, you can put more thought into your words. > Writing also has the benefit of maintaining a record of what was said. The number of misunderstandings that could have been a avoided by writing is stagge…

Not to mention, misunderstandings crop up in text all the time, often due to lack of tone being conveyed Can you elaborate on this? "Tone" is something that inherently has to be interpreted, so it doesn't make sense that you're attributing this as a quality that shields from misunderstandings.

People attribute tone to text that the writer may not have intended. For example, someone might write something that is very brusque, but still meant it lightly, and people may interpret this as overly rude or aggressive - while had they spoken it, their tone would've conveyed their intent.

Re: AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

#343

Post by Levitz »

chii wrote: post #96
hobs wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last sentence is it - most people can't communicate much less write well, hell, I don't write well, but I hope my ideas are at least clearly communicated.

When you can't write well, you "resort" to using a lot of body language and facial nuances in face-to-face communication, which works acceptably. Unfortunately, this doesn't translate well on zoom. This "writing well" as a form of good communication is needed, but while in school, those same people who cannot write well also likely were complaining about learning how to write essays and such. Over time, this sort of…

Which is frankly appalling in this day and age. We write all the time, sure, the vast majority of it aren't essays or any kind of dense text, but expressing ideas in writing is something we do constantly.

Re: AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

#344

Post by dfxm12 »

squigz wrote: post #342
dfxm12 wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention, misunderstandings crop up in text all the time, often due to lack of tone being conveyed Can you elaborate on this? "Tone" is something that inherently has to be interpreted, so it doesn't make sense that you're attributing this as a quality that shields from misunderstandings.

People attribute tone to text that the writer may not have intended. For example, someone might write something that is very brusque, but still meant it lightly, and people may interpret this as overly rude or aggressive - while had they spoken it, their tone would've conveyed their intent.

You're making assumptions.

Re: AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

#345

Post by squigz »

dfxm12 wrote: post #344
squigz wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People attribute tone to text that the writer may not have intended. For example, someone might write something that is very brusque, but still meant it lightly, and people may interpret this as overly rude or aggressive - while had they spoken it, their tone would've conveyed their intent.

You're making assumptions.

This whole thread is full of assumptions.

Re: AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

#346

Post by dorkrawk »

nullsmack wrote: post #254

Reminds me of the scene in Real Genius.. where more and more students were leaving tape recorders on their desks to record a lecture and then eventually their professor left one playing a recorded lecture to a room full of tape recorders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EueMqc8i4GI

Re: AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

#347

Post by esafak »

CuriouslyC wrote: post #239
jon-wood wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over the years I've moved away from thinking of the daily standup as being a way to update everyone on what we're doing. The value in it is having a daily time when everyone on the team sees each other's faces and has a brief conversation. Sometimes it'll be a quick hello, other times we'll talk for half an hour about nothing in particular, but that's valuable on a remote team where it's all to easy to forget that ev…

That's what happy hours and optional team activities are for. After hours gaming groups, book clubs, hobby groups, etc do this much better.

You don't have those things when working remotely. You need to foster social relations at work too; after-work socializing is not a substitute for a collaborative work atmosphere.

Re: AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

#349

Post by esafak »

varispeed wrote: post #304
varispeed wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are real whether or not you see their faces or chat daily. Framing daily standups as "humanising" can end up dehumanising those who find enforced face time and small talk uncomfortable or exhausting - especially neurodivergent team members. Inclusivity means recognising that not everyone bonds the same way.

Surprised by the downvotes, honestly. Inclusivity isn't about asking everyone to conform to neurotypical norms - it's about creating space for different ways of working and communicating. If even mentioning that feels unwelcome, that says something worth reflecting on.

Imagine working in a team where you have never seen the face of your coworkers...

Don't even be sure they're real; there are increasingly people who outsource their work to bots these days.

Re: AI note takers are flooding Zoom calls as workers opt to skip meetings

#350

Post by basisword »

I hate this. For lots of reasons but mainly privacy. If the call is being recorded that's visible for all to see. If some dick is recording my every word with AI I'll never know. It's going to stifle discussions, especially more informal small group ones, and eventually the only solution will be dragging everyone back to the office because clearly people can't be trusted.
Post reply on HN