Important Security Notice: Required Deactivation of Read AI and other generative AI meeting assistants
The usage of free, third-party Artificial Intelligence (AI) meeting assistants, such as Read.ai and Otter.ai, in online meetings is a growing security concern at Mississippi State University (MSU). In researching the functionality of these tools and engaging with several other higher education institutions, it has been determined that blocking these integrations is necessary to protect our institutional data.
The university has blocked the following 3rd party AI services in Teams:
University IT professionals will periodically review and block additional platforms as needed.
What is a generative AI meeting assistant
A generative AI meeting assistant is a tool that can join, transcribe, and summarize their users’ online meetings, utilizing AI to process speech into text to provide recordings and transcriptions of meetings without the consent of the meeting participants or adherence to any privacy requirements. Once associated with your calendar, these tools can automatically join, transcribe, and summarize your online meetings even if you are not in attendance.
Why is MSU blocking Read AI and similar tools?
Read.ai and similar free tools offer meeting assistance with transcripts, chat, and files but pose both security and privacy risks for institutional data. These recordings and transcriptions are stored outside of MSU’s control, cannot be deleted, and are effectively owned by the third-party company, resulting in a significant risk to sensitive, confidential, and regulated university information. The default configuration of these tools is often set to share meeting summaries with all meeting invitees, however, to access the transcript the user is required to create an account with the tool. During the account creation process, the tool requests full access to your calendar and subsequently adds the service to all your future online meetings, thereby self-perpetuating the service to an every-growing user population.
Is there a secure, compliant AI meeting assistant tool available for use at MSU?
MSU currently offers Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex online meeting tools. Both tools offer transcription capabilities that are approved for use with MSU online meetings. The Webex AI Assistant is a new advanced feature that will be available soon in MSU-hosted Webex meetings.
Please remove any unapproved AI meeting assistant services from MSU devices. Furthermore, do not utilize unapproved AI meeting assistant software packages without consultation and approval from MSU ITS.
Are there additional concerns with AI meeting assistant services?
Be considerate of your fellow users. Sensitive and private information is often discussed during meetings; recording or transcribing a meeting without notifying all participants may not only surprise participants but also increases the opportunity for unauthorized or inappropriate sharing of sensitive information.
Additionally, be cautious of AI meeting assistant bots in your meetings hosted by other institutions and organizations. The use of these services has become a common occurrence, and users must be conscious of the privacy implications.