--- title: "Bosses Deploying AIs in Video Meetings to Lecture Employees for Bad Behavior" description: "AI is here to enforce Zoom etiquette — but according to some who have used the meeting bots, the AIs don't always understand nuance." date: "2023-10-15" modified: "2023-10-15" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/bosses-ai-video-lecture-employees-behavior" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai" - "future of work" - "the digest" - "zoom" --- # Bosses Deploying AIs in Video Meetings to Lecture Employees for Bad Behavior ![AI is here to enforce Zoom etiquette — but according to some who have used the meeting bots, the AIs don't always understand nuance.]() *Futuristic humanoid robot, computer illustration \Image: KATERYNA KON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images\* ## Zoom Police AI is here to enforce Zoom etiquette, apparently. As [*The Wall Street Journal* reports,]() a growing number of companies are using AI bots in video meetings to mediate, transcribe, and — yes — etiquette-check participants who may be lecturing or interrupting others. Often, according to the report, the bots are just silent notetakers, there to either summarize the meeting for someone who can't be there, or keep minutes for the group. In other cases, though, the bots will pipe up to let speakers know whether they might be droning on a bit too much. "It was like, monologue!" Josh Stir, the senior software development manager for a tax services company, told the *WSJ* of his experience with a Zoom behavior bot. The AI seemingly thought the software developer was speaking too flatly, urging Stir to raise and lower his pitch in order to maintain the group's interest. Which, in some cases, might be helpful to a speaker. But as Stir told the newspaper, he's not a CEO trying to rally his troops; he was in the meeting discussing the technical complexities of enterprise taxware — a task that, by nature, is a pretty monotone deal. "I was like, yes, that's what I'm here to do," Stir told the *WSJ.* "It's technology for corporate tax software," he added. "No one's going to carry me out of the room on their shoulders." ## Bad Vibes Unsurprisingly, some folks have found the AIs a bit eerie. "It's like having a conversation with someone at a coffee shop, and you look out the window and all you see are a pair of eyes looking at you," Zack Schwartz, whose company briefly experimented with the bots last spring, told the *WSJ* of his short-lived encounter with them. A tech marketing director named Colin Dougherty, meanwhile, recounted a "dystopian" encounter in which he was the first human to show up for a call — only to be greeted by a coterie of silent AI bots. Beyond the creepiness, marketer Jessica Malnik told the newspaper that the bots' presence can also just be a vibe killer, explaining that the AI stand-ins for absentees foster a "weird power dynamic" in meetings and, presumably, the rest of the workplace. Look, a lot of meetings are very boring. Indeed, a lot of meetings could be emails! Some people also really don't know how to let others talk in meetings, so maybe having an AI tell them to stop cutting people off is helpful. Still, the AIs seem like they lack a bit of nuance — and in general, we can imagine it's bizarre to be surrounded in a meeting by faceless bots jotting down your every word. **More on AI:** [*Facebook Is Paying Celebrities Millions to Turn Them Into Chatbots*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()