Bots Are Joining Your Meetings and They Think You Talk Too Much

livemint.com:

Josh Stir knew he had been talking for a long time during a recent virtual company meeting. But he didn’t expect a robot to call him out on it. Stir was presenting from his Fort Wayne, Ind., office about a new software feature that would allow his colleagues to automate tedious tasks, such as copying and pasting data.

Then a notification popped up on his laptop telling him he’d been talking nonstop for 30 minutes without letting anyone else say a word. “It was like, monologue!" says Stir, 46 years old, who works for a tax services company as a senior software development manager. “And I was like, yes, that’s what I’m here to do." Workers around the world are adopting artificial intelligence to streamline tasks ranging from email writing to product development.

Now companies have begun using AI to root out another workplace inefficiency: meetings. Across the U.S., some workers are using tools that record, analyze and summarize what has been said, allowing them to skip gatherings entirely and skim the highlights. The AI also acts as a kind of virtual Miss Manners, reminding people to share the mic and to modulate their speaking pace, and advising them how to avoid verbal flubs.

In Stir’s case, his robot minder suggested he let his pitch rise and fall more to sound less monotone, something he says isn’t the easiest task, given the technical material he covers. “It’s technology for corporate tax software," Stir says. “No one’s going to carry me out of the room on their shoulders." Joseph Zalkin, 65, a retired emergency medical services worker in Raleigh, N.C., says the idea of recording and analyzing meetings is “Big Brother personified"—and extremely helpful.