Before You Record: What Insurance Agencies Should KnowAbout AI Transcription Tools

AI transcription tools are becoming increasingly common in business meetings, client interactions, and virtual conferences. While these tools can help to improve efficiency and documentation, they also create new privacy, security, and operational considerations for insurance agencies.

How do AI transcription tools work?

AI transcription tools capture audio from a meeting or call and typically process it through cloud-based systems that convert speech into text. Unlike traditional transcription software, many AI-powered tools also analyze the conversation to generate summaries, action items, and other insights. Some tools use voice characteristics to identify speakers by creating voiceprints, which may raise additional privacy and consent considerations.

How accurate are they?

AI transcription tools can often produce highly accurate transcripts under ideal conditions. However, accuracy can be affected by background noise, poor audio quality, multiple people speaking at once, technical terminology, or connectivity issues. In addition, while the transcript itself may be largely accurate, AI-generated summaries, action items, and meeting notes can occasionally misinterpret the discussion or include information that was not actually stated. Additionally, the systems can misattribute who made a statement, creating confusion about who said what. AI output should be independently reviewed and confirmed by individuals to determine that it is accurate and reliable.

Privacy Concerns

While AI transcription tools can provide valuable documentation and productivity benefits, they also raise a number of privacy concerns. Agencies should understand how this technology works, what data is collected, who can access it, and how long it is retained before implementing these tools.

Common privacy concerns include:

• Recording Without Participant Awareness or Consent – AI transcription tools can capture and preserve conversations in far greater detail than traditional note-taking – creating recordings, transcripts, summaries, and other digital records. Individuals may have privacy concerns if they are unaware their conversations are being recorded, transcribed, analyzed, or retained by the agency, a third-party service provider, or other parties. In addition, many states regulate the recording of conversations and may require disclosure or participant consent under certain circumstances.
• Third-party Access to Data – Depending on the vendor’s terms of service, recordings and transcripts may be accessible to the service provider, subcontractors, or other parties.
• Use of Data for AI Training – Some vendors may use customer data to improve their products, train AI models, or develop new services.
• Voiceprints and Biometric Privacy Laws – Certain tools use voice characteristics to distinguish speakers and create voiceprints. In some jurisdictions, voiceprints may be treated as biometric information and subject to additional notice, consent, retention, or disclosure requirements.
• Exposure of Sensitive Information and Cybersecurity Risks – Recordings and transcripts may contain personal information, confidential business information, claim details, financial information, or other sensitive data. Because this information is often stored in cloud-based systems, it may be vulnerable to unauthorized access, data breaches, cyberattacks, or inappropriate disclosure if adequate security controls are not in place.
• Discovery and Regulatory Requests – Transcripts and recordings may create a detailed, searchable record of conversations that could be subject to legal discovery, regulatory requests, or privacy-related inquiries.

Best Practices if Using AI Transcription Tools
Agencies should establish clear guidelines governing when these tools may be used, how information is handled, and what review processes are required before utilizing and relying on AI-generated output. Organizations should also evaluate vendors carefully to understand how recordings, transcripts, and other data are collected, stored, retained, and protected.

Best Practices:

• Develop a Written Policy – Establish guidelines addressing when transcription tools may be used, approval requirements, retention standards, security requirements, and employee responsibilities. See sample AI Transcription Tool Governance Policy.
• Limit Use in Sensitive Situations – Consider prohibiting the use of transcription tools for privileged communications, litigation-related matters, HR investigations, employee performance discussions, or other highly sensitive topics.
• Obtain Appropriate Notice and Consent – Ensure participants are informed and consent is obtained when required before conversations are recorded or transcribed, and that all applicable legal and regulatory requirements are followed.
• Review AI-Generated Output Promptly – Treat transcripts, summaries, action items, and meeting notes as draft content that requires human review. Complete reviews as soon as practical after the meeting or conversation, while participants can still readily recall what was discussed and correct any inaccuracies. AI-generated output should not be relied upon for business decisions, customer communications, or documentation until it has been reviewed.
• Manage Retention and Access – Establish procedures governing who can access recordings and transcripts, how long they are retained, and when they should be deleted.
• Train Employees on Appropriate Use – Employees should understand the capabilities and limitations of AI transcription tools, including privacy concerns, consent requirements, and the potential for errors or inaccurate summaries.
• Preserve Agency Documentation Standards – AI transcripts and summaries may support agency documentation efforts, but should not replace normal file documentation standards. Coverage discussions, recommendations, coverage rejections, and other material communications should continue to be documented in accordance with the agency's established procedures.

AI transcription tools are likely to become an increasingly common part of agency operations. When used thoughtfully, they can enhance productivity and documentation efforts. Nonetheless, agencies should recognize that these tools create new privacy, security, and risk management considerations that warrant careful evaluation before pressing the record button.