What is an AI notetaker?
An AI notetaker (also spelled AI note taker) is an app that listens to your meetings and writes them up for you. It records the conversation, produces a transcript that shows who said each line, and drafts the notes: what was decided, who owns each next step and what’s still open. Some notetakers send a bot into your call to do this. Others work from an app on your computer and never join the meeting. Runa works the second way, as an AI notepad: you can jot your own notes during the call, and Runa builds the meeting notes around them. Comparing options? Read our guide to the best AI notetakers in 2026.
How an AI notetaker works
Under the hood, every AI notetaker is a pipeline of four steps. Each step hands its work to the next, so an early error travels all the way to the notes.
- Record. A bot in the call, or an app on your computer, captures the audio.
- Transcribe. Speech-to-text writes down every word, often while people are still talking.
- Name the speakers. It separates the voices, then works out which person each voice belongs to.
- Write it up. A language model reads the transcript and drafts the notes: decisions, owners, deadlines and open questions, often in a format you pick.
So when you judge a notetaker, don’t stop at how polished the summary reads. Check the names and the numbers against what you remember.
AI notetaker vs. AI notepad, transcript and recorder
You’ll see these terms next to “AI notetaker.” They overlap, but they aren’t the same.
| Term | What it is | How it differs from an AI notetaker |
|---|---|---|
| Meeting recorder | An audio or video file of the call | You still have to listen back to find anything |
| Transcript | A word-for-word written record of the conversation | No summary: the decision is in there somewhere, unmarked |
| AI notepad | An AI notetaker you can also type in during the meeting | What you type steers what the AI writes up |
| AI meeting assistant | A broad name for software that helps before, during and after meetings | Can include prep and follow-up drafts; vendors use the term loosely |
Most notetakers stop at the notes. Runa also helps with what comes next: a brief before your next call and a draft of the follow-up after this one.
Bot or no bot: how a notetaker hears the meeting
There are two ways to get the audio, and the choice changes the meeting itself.
Meeting bots. The notetaker sends a participant into Zoom, Google Meet or Teams, usually named after the tool or after you. It sits in the attendee list for the whole call. It needs no software on your computer, but it only hears the calls it’s invited to, it can’t help in a meeting room, and some companies’ IT teams block it.
Bot-free notetakers. An app on your computer records your microphone and the sound of the call, the same audio you hear. The meeting has no extra participant, it works in any call app or browser tab, and you can bring the laptop to an in-person meeting.
Runa is a bot-free notetaker for Mac and Windows. It works in Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, browser calls and in person. It also catches calls you didn’t schedule: when a call app starts using your microphone, Runa offers to take notes. Whichever kind you use, tell people an AI is taking notes, and get their consent where the law requires it. More on taking meeting notes without a bot.
What is an AI notepad?
An AI notepad is an AI notetaker you can also write in. During the meeting you type the few things that matter to you, like a number, a concern or a promise you made. The AI records and transcribes everything else, then writes the full notes around your points.
Runa is an AI notepad. Open the meeting, type as you go, and Runa reads your notes alongside the transcript when it writes the meeting notes. If you don’t type anything, you still get complete notes from the transcript.
How does an AI notetaker know who’s speaking?
Speech recognition can hear that two voices are different, but not whose they are. Left alone, it labels them Speaker A, Speaker B and so on. Putting real names on those letters is the hard part. A notetaker that guesses gets it confidently wrong: the action item lands on someone who never agreed to it, or your teammate gets credited with the customer’s complaint.
Runa uses evidence it can check: who was invited, and who the meeting app highlights as the active speaker. If the evidence isn’t strong enough, Runa keeps a generic label like Speaker A instead of guessing, because a wrong name is worse than no name. Fix a name once and Runa relabels every line from that speaker.
Speaker names matter beyond the transcript, too: they decide whose to-do list each action item lands on.
A meeting with Runa, from brief to follow-up
Say you have a renewal call with a customer on Microsoft Teams at 10:00.
- 9:55. Runa’s brief is ready: where things stand after your last meetings with this customer, what’s still open, and public background on the new person joining from their side. Each point links to where it came from.
- 10:00 to 10:40. The transcript runs live on your screen. When the customer mentions a budget freeze, you type “budget freeze, ask about Q1” in your notes.
- 10:41. The notes are ready: decisions, owners and next steps, written with your note in mind. Runa has also drafted the follow-up email and the HubSpot or Salesforce update. Nothing is sent, and nothing is written to your CRM, until you approve it.
- Three weeks later. You ask Runa, “What did we promise this customer about pricing?” and get the answer with links to the meetings it came from.
Runa at a glance
- Runs on: Mac and Windows
- Takes notes in: Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, browser calls and in-person meetings
- Languages: 32+
- Price: the Basic plan is free and includes 10 AI meeting notes a month
Pick a meeting you’d normally write up by hand, run Runa on it, and compare the notes. Try Runa free.
Frequently asked questions
Can an AI notetaker work without a bot?
Yes. A desktop notetaker records on your own computer, so no extra participant appears in the call. Runa works this way on Mac and Windows, in Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, browser calls and in-person meetings.
Does Runa work with ChatGPT and Claude?
Yes. Connect Runa to ChatGPT or Claude through its read-only connector, and the assistant can search your meetings and read their notes and transcripts when you ask about a call. The connector is included in the Pro plan.
Does Runa store my meeting audio?
No. Runa keeps the transcript and the notes, not the audio or video of your call. The audio goes securely to transcription while you talk and isn’t kept afterward, and you choose how long Runa keeps transcripts and notes in Settings → Data & privacy. Runa doesn’t train AI models on your meetings.