There is a moment most people have had in a meeting: the AI bot joins before your guest does, someone has to awkwardly ask if recording is okay, and the whole dynamic shifts. It is enough friction that most people just give up and go back to scribbling notes by hand.

There is a better way, and it does not involve anyone knowing a bot is even in the room.

In this How I AI episode, Neo and I do a deep dive into Granola.ai, the meeting transcription tool that has become non-negotiable for both of us at Inventium. We get into how it works differently to most recording tools, how we handle the privacy conversation with external guests, and why having every internal meeting captured has actually made us better at our jobs.

Neo and I cover:

• Why most AI meeting recorders create more friction than they solve, and why recording is still not the default for most people's meetings.
• How Granola transcribes meetings in the background without joining as a participant, recording no audio or video, making it far less intrusive than most tools.
• The way Granola combines your own real-time notes with its transcript, using what you type as a signal for what mattered most in the conversation.
• Why at Inventium, every internal meeting including one-on-ones is captured in Granola by default, and what that means for psychological safety and team culture.
• The simple line Amantha's EA includes in every external meeting invite to let guests know Granola is running.
• A free, open-source alternative called Hyprnote (hyprnote.app) for those who are budget-constrained or unable to install Granola.

Here are the tools mentioned in this episode:

1. Granola.ai — AI meeting transcription tool that runs in the background without joining as a meeting participant. Integrates with Google and Microsoft.
2. Hyprnote (hyprnote.app) — open-source alternative to Granola, available on Mac and Windows.

 

Connect with Neo Aplin on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/neoaplin/) and via inventium.ai (https://inventium.ai), where he leads Inventium's AI training and upskilling work with organisations and teams.

My latest book The Health Habit is out now. You can order a copy here: https://www.amantha.com/the-health-habit/

Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanthaimber)

Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/amanthai)

If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work and live, I write a weekly newsletter where I share practical and simple to apply tips to improve your life. You can sign up for that at https://amantha-imber.ck.page/subscribe

Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.

Get in touch at [email protected]

Credits: Host: Amantha Imber

Sound Engineer: Martin Imber

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