VC Jeremy Levine has an amusing remedy for something that frequently frustrates him, as highlighted in a new Wall Street Journal piece regarding the emergence of AI transcription applications. On Zoom, he is no longer referred to as “Jeremy Levine” but as “Jeremy Levine I do not consent to transcribing or recording.”

It may appear trivial or ingenious, based on your perspective, but what is evident is that constant recording is increasingly commonplace, fueled by a rising number of AI note-taking tools and devices, many of which have been discussed here at TechCrunch (including a ranking of some).

VC Eric Bahn conveys to the publication that he now presumes his meetings with founders will be captured, even before he notices a phone gliding across a conference table. One founder mentions to the WSJ that she records the majority of her initial dates using the Granola app, then processes the transcript with Claude afterwards to evaluate how she can be more “engaging or empathetic,” while also reviewing who contributed most to the conversation.

Levine refers to the entire phenomenon as “socially unacceptable behavior” that can thoroughly disrupt spontaneous discussions. Others mentioned in the article point out that it presents a legal quandary.

However, there’s an added complexity: if every meeting, casual chat, and romantic encounter is transcribed and summarized, who is actually reviewing any of it? At what stage does this audio dump of every interaction cease to be beneficial and merely turn into another recording that no one has the time to listen to?