The Best AI Notetakers for Nonprofits: Fathom, Otter.ai, Microsoft Copilot, and Zoom AI Companion

AI-powered notetakers have become invaluable tools for enhancing productivity in both professional and educational settings. These tools use advanced AI algorithms to automatically transcribe, summarize, and organize key points from meetings, lectures, or interviews, allowing users to focus on the conversation without worrying about missing critical details. 

By integrating with popular platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, AI notetakers can capture live audio, create real-time collaborative notes, and even suggest action items or follow-ups. This automation not only saves time but also improves accuracy compared to manual note-taking. Additionally, many AI notetakers offer enhanced security features and privacy protections, especially in paid versions, ensuring that sensitive data remains secure while boosting team collaboration and meeting efficiency​

This G2 grid shows that there are innumerable note taking tools on the market. This is a comparison of four AI-powered note-taking tools: Fathom, Microsoft Copilot, Otter.ai, and Zoom AI Companion, focusing on their strengths, weaknesses, and privacy policies.

Fathom (Team Edition $19/user/month*)

Full disclosure, Fathom is the AI notetaking tool that we use at RoundTable. We have found Fathom to be an excellent notetaking product, as have many others as it is the #1 ranked product on G2. Fathom offers a free plan, with unlimited recordings, summaries, and annotation capabilities. Further, Fathom’s free plan does not use customer data in AI training (always an important question to ask with ANY free AI tool). 

Investing in the paid plan may be worth it as it offers:

• A variety of summary templates, which can be customized 
• Ability to query meeting recordings using an “Ask Fathom” chat feature
• Collaboration tools and sharing for teams
• Ability to request a retention time period that applies to all accounts.
• CRM integrations with platforms like Salesforce and HubSpot

Fathom Privacy Policy 

Otter.ai ($20/user/month*)

Otter.ai is another recommended AI-powered notetaking tool that has recently been upgraded to capture Zoom, Teams and Google Meet meetings. The free plan does not use customer data for AI training, but you are limited to the total amount of minutes (300 as of this writing) per month.  Upgrading to a Pro or Business plan allows for extended transcription minutes, more team collaboration tools, and the ability to maintain a shared custom vocabulary. These features are particularly useful for organizations that need more detailed and accurate meeting records.

Otter provides automated meeting summaries, slide capture, and tools to assign action items, which can help streamline post-meeting workflows. Importantly, Otter's paid options come with flexible data retention policies, allowing users to control how long meeting data is stored. This is essential in order for organizations to easily apply data retention periods for meeting recordings, which we recommend.

Otter also does not use customer data for training their AI in either the free or paid plans. The free plans do limit the number of transcribed minutes (300 per month*), which can get consumed quickly. For larger teams, the Business plan offers advanced admin features such as role-based access controls, providing more granular control over how meeting data is accessed and used​.

Otter Privacy Policy 

Microsoft Copilot ($30/mo/user - Microsoft 365 Copilot*)

Microsoft Copilot is part of the Microsoft 365 Enterprise suite and is available through a $30 per user per month upgrade. If your organization uses Microsoft 365, the enterprise protections extend to the use of Copilot.  The AI-powered assistant integrates with Teams to provide note taking features, such as generating meeting summaries and suggesting follow-up action items. Using Microsoft Copilot as a note taking tool requires an upgrade that also provides AI powered capabilities to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and other Microsoft applications. 

Importantly, in the enterprise-grade paid tier, you can take advantage of Microsoft's privacy and security features. This makes it an ideal option for organizations looking to streamline workflows while maintaining strict control over their sensitive information. Before rolling out a tool as significant as Copilot, however, it is highly recommended that organizations have both an AI rollout strategy and an AI policy in place to govern how employees use AI tools in a way that is aligned with organizational values. Check out this article from RoundTable to learn more about establishing an AI policy.

Microsoft Privacy Statement

Zoom AI Companion (comes with paid Zoom plan*)

Zoom AI Companion is designed to enhance productivity for users of the Zoom platform, offering real-time meeting summaries, email suggestions, and whiteboard insights. These features streamline collaboration, especially for organizations that rely heavily on Zoom for their day-to-day operations. However, it is important to note that the AI Companion only works within the Zoom ecosystem, which may be limiting for teams that use multiple conferencing tools.

One significant concern is Zoom’s initial policy regarding the use of customer data for AI training, which faced substantial backlash. While Zoom has since clarified that meeting data will not be used for AI model training and has implemented privacy safeguards, this history is worth noting for organizations highly concerned with data privacy. Zoom now offers GDPR compliance and a SOC 2 Type II attestation, and paid users can ensure that their meeting content remains private and within their control.

Zoom Privacy Policy 

Privacy Matters with AI Notetakers

When using AI-powered note taking tools, privacy is a critical consideration, especially when dealing with sensitive or confidential information. It’s important to look beyond the features and consider how these companies handle customer data. Many free versions of tools come with hidden trade-offs, such as using your data to train AI models or repurposing it for other business objectives. As such, one of the most important questions to ask is whether customer data is being used for AI model training, which can pose significant risks to data security and confidentiality.

For organizations handling sensitive information, upgrading to paid plans is essential. Even on a paid plan, it is essential to be mindful of privacy regulations - AI recorders should be turned off if any personal health data is being shown on screen. 

It’s important that organizations thoroughly review the privacy policies of any AI note taking tool they consider adopting (and any tool in general). Understanding how data is collected, stored, and processed is key to ensuring that the tool aligns with your organization's privacy requirements. Pay particular attention to how the service manages data retention and data sharing, and ensure that the platform provides clear options for controlling and deleting data.

While AI note taking tools can greatly boost efficiency, organizations must prioritize privacy considerations by investing in paid plans that offer robust data protection features. Thoroughly reviewing and understanding the tool’s privacy policy is essential to ensure that sensitive information remains secure and is handled in compliance with data privacy regulations.

 * At the time of this writing, September 19, 2024