Can I just use the Zoom summary as my board minutes?

We use Zoom for our hybrid meetings and it automatically generates a summary at the end. My board chair suggested we just use that as the minutes. It would save me so much time. Is that okay?

Your board chair means well and this mistake is incredibly common. But here's the practical problem. Zoom's AI summarizes what was said. Minutes record what was decided, and knowing what to capture takes judgment a transcript doesn't have.

Say your board approves the budget but asks the ED to explain a variance in program spending before the next meeting. A Zoom summary won't know that detail matters. It'll say "the group discussed the budget and reached agreement." Your minutes need to say the board approved the budget and directed the ED to report back on the variance. That's the difference between a record that shows oversight and one that doesn't.

That distinction won't show up in an AI summary. It shows up because someone understood what the board actually needed on the record.

The other problem is everything the summary includes that shouldn't be there. The joke someone made at the beginning. The sidebar that went nowhere. The opinion a board member expressed before changing their mind. None of that belongs in your official record.

Use the Zoom summary as a memory aid while you write your draft. Then delete it once the minutes are approved. That's the right use of that tool.

And someone should probably have a gentle word with your board chair.