Google Meet AI note-taking default: check before 29 Sept

If your business runs on Google Workspace Business Standard or Business Plus, Gemini may start taking notes in your team’s Google Meet calls without anyone clicking a button. Google says new “Take notes for me” settings “will begin to take effect September 29th”, and that customers on those two plans “will see this setting turned ON by default”.

The notes can be useful. But a client call, a staff performance chat or a patient conversation may be written up and filed in Google Drive when the people in it didn’t expect it. It’s worth deciding your default before Tuesday.

What’s changing

Previously, Google says, admins “could only enable or disable automatic note-taking for all meetings”. Since July, admins have had a third option to turn it on “only for meetings with three or more people”. From 29 September, that option becomes the default for users on some plans, and users get a matching option in their own settings. In the Admin console the setting is called Automatic note-taking, and the choices are Off, “For all scheduled meetings I host” and “For all scheduled meetings I host with 3+ guests”.

For Business Standard and Business Plus, the default is the three-or-more option. Google’s help page says note-taking “is automatically added to meetings the organizer hosts when the 3rd guest is added (including the organizer)”. That means an organiser and two guests. On our reading, automatic notes apply to scheduled meetings the organiser hosts, not calls started on the spot, because the options that switch it on are worded “scheduled meetings I host”.

The default is off for Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus and Frontline Plus, and for customers with the Google AI Pro for Education add-on. Organisations in Google’s Gemini Alpha testing program that “previously tested this setting” may find it is already on.

Google’s dates have moved. Its July announcement said the user setting would arrive “no sooner than September 21”, and its admin help page still says “On or after September 21, 2026”. The newer post, from 22 September, gives 29 September and describes an “Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility)”. So the change may reach your account any time from Tuesday over the following weeks.

Who it affects

Businesses on Business Standard or Business Plus, which Google sells in Australia for up to 300 users. Google’s Gemini feature list doesn’t include “Take notes for me” in Meet for Business Starter, and its Australian pricing page marks Gemini in Meet as not supported on Starter. On our reading, Starter customers aren’t affected.

If you’re not sure which plan you’re on, ask whoever set up or pays for your Workspace account.

What participants see and where the notes go

According to Google’s Meet help, Meet “informs all meeting participants that notes are being taken” and a pencil icon appears on everyone’s screen. Since early 2026, the waiting screen before a call (Google calls it the green room) also shows “a more prominent notice” when notes are on, and eligible users can turn notes and transcription off from there. During a call, anyone inside the host’s organisation can stop the notes, unless host controls restrict that to the host and co-hosts. External guests can’t start or stop them.

The notes document is “saved in the meeting organizer’s Google Drive in the ‘Google Meet’ folder” and attached to the Calendar event. Who can open it depends on a sharing setting with three choices: all invited guests “including those outside of my organization”, invited guests in your organisation, or hosts and co-hosts only. The admin default is invited guests in your organisation. Google notes that “invited guests” means everyone on the Calendar invite, “not guests who actually attended”. Notes follow your organisation’s Meet retention policy.

Google says Gemini in Meet uses your Workspace content to respond to prompts and “doesn’t use your content to train or improve Gemini or other generative AI models.”

The privacy question

The Australian Privacy Principles don’t apply to most small businesses. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) defines a small business as one with annual turnover of $3 million or less, and says most aren’t covered by the Privacy Act, but some are, whatever their turnover. Health service providers are one example. Our privacy explainer covers who’s in and what’s changing.

For businesses that are covered, the OAIC’s guidance on commercially available AI products deals with AI meeting notes directly, under the heading “can our business use AI to take meeting minutes?” It says businesses should consider what will be discussed and make sure “any personal information collected is reasonably necessary”. Consent is required if the AI collects sensitive information, and otherwise “seeking consent should be pursued as a matter of best practice”. Depending on the circumstances, the OAIC says, that “could be done by advising meeting attendees of the AI system being in use and providing them with the option to object at the outset”. It adds that this only works if the information and the opt-out are clear and prominent to everyone, and the consequences of not opting out aren’t serious.

Google’s own help page tells hosts to “let everyone know you’re using ‘Take notes for me.’” Google also offers an optional admin setting that requires explicit consent from all participants before notes, recording or transcription start. Google says it is “off by default”.

What to do

Decide your default before 29 September. For a clinic, a practice that takes client calls on Meet, or anyone who holds HR conversations online, a sensible default may be off, with staff switching notes on for internal meetings where they help. For a team that mainly meets internally, the three-or-more default may be fine, as long as people know it’s on. If you’re still deciding which tasks to hand to AI, our guide to choosing a first AI task you can check may help.

Checklist

Check your plan. Business Standard and Business Plus get the new default. Business Starter doesn’t include Gemini note-taking in Meet.
Set the admin default. In the Admin console, go to Menu, then Apps, then Google Workspace, then Google Meet. Under Gemini settings, click Automatic note-taking, choose an option and save. Google says changes can take up to 24 hours.
Check who gets the notes. In the same Gemini settings, review the note-sharing default, and whether hosts can change it, before anyone’s notes reach external guests.
Tell your staff. Users can override the default at meet.google.com under Settings, then Meeting records. They can also turn notes off for one meeting in the Calendar event, or in the green room.
Tell the people you meet. Add a line to meeting invites or your opening script saying Gemini may take notes, and offer to turn it off.
Decide on the consent setting. If you handle health or other sensitive information, look at Google’s option to require explicit consent before notes, recording or transcription start.
Check again after the rollout. Google’s rollout may take more than 15 days, so recheck the setting in mid-to-late October.

Download checklist PDF

Sources 12 sources

What’s changing

Who it affects

What participants see and where the notes go

The privacy question

What to do

Checklist

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