Tired of taking meeting notes? Discover the best AI tools to use—across Zoom, Meet, and Teams.
If you’re still manually writing notes during your meetings, it’s time to upgrade. Tools like Shadow let you automate the whole process without disrupting your team’s flow. Whether you’re on Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams, you can generate accurate transcriptions, action items, and beautifully formatted summaries—without a bot joining your call. In this article, we break down the top AI transcription tools and explain how Shadow does it better: no awkward bots, no broken flow, just real productivity.
AI note takers started out as bots that joined your meetings. They showed up as another participant, sat silently, and recorded everything. If you were the host, fine—you got notes. But for everyone else? It felt awkward and intrusive. Like being watched. Let’s be honest, it’s hard not to keep eyeing that blank profile picture instead of focusing on the speaker.
In just one year, AI meeting tools have come a long way—but most still fall short. Zoom AI Summary, Duet AI, and Shadow all handle transcription and note taking. But only Shadow does it without disrupting your conversation or compromising your privacy.
And it’s not just us saying this, bot-free meeting assistant is one of the most searched phrases when searching for meeting transcription tools. People want solutions that work with them, not over them. Shadow gets that.
Meetings should be productive, not chaotic. Here’s what AI tools like Shadow bring to the table:
Shadow goes one step further—it integrates into your existing workflow and formats everything to your style. It’s designed for knowledge workers doing high value work.
Zoom’s AI assistant gives you real-time transcription and automated summaries. It can:
It’s solid if you live inside Zoom. But it still feels very…Zoom.
Duet AI is Google’s answer to meeting chaos. It integrates well with Docs and provides solid recaps, especially for internal teams using Google Workspace.
Copilot helps Microsoft Teams users with smart transcription and note organization—if you pay for premium. It’s enterprise-ready, but again, only if you’re already deep in Microsoft’s stack.
Here’s the thing: Shadow isn’t just another AI notetaker. It’s built to feel like a real teammate—not a third-party generic AI bot taking notes in the corner. And unlike most tools that only work within one video platform, Shadow understands that in the real world, meetings happen everywhere. You might start your week on Zoom, jump into a Slack Huddle, take a call on FaceTime, and end the week on Google Meet or Microsoft Teams. Shadow works across all of it—automatically capturing insights, summarizing discussions, and generating action items, no matter where the conversation happens. It gives you the flexibility you need without compromising on coverage, accuracy, or privacy.
Shadow offers:
Whether you're trying to summarize virtual meetings, maintain AI-generated meeting minutes for countless meetings, or just want better documentation and note taking, Shadow is for you.
Great question. Shadow is powered by industry-tuned natural language processing (NLP) that doesn’t just transcribe—it actually understands what’s being said. It segments by speaker, detects tone and intent, and recognizes critical details like keywords, deadlines, and follow-up actions.
What sets Shadow apart is that this intelligence works universally—not just on Zoom or Google Meet. Whatever you're taking a call on, Shadow can listen, process, and summarize without requiring you to switch platforms or workflows. It’s trained to adapt across different industries, and use cases—from sales calls to client meetings to internal one-on-ones. And the best part? There’s zero onboarding or bots that join. It just works—right where you are.
Shadow doesn’t just throw a block of text at you and call it a summary. It gives you structured, human-readable output that actually reflects how teams work.
These AI-powered meeting templates not only help everyone stay aligned—they’re also interactive. With Shadow, your notes aren’t static documents. You can chat with your meeting notes, asking questions like “What was the deadline for Dev’s task?” or “Who’s presenting next week’s mockups?” and get instant answers. It’s like having a living memory of every meeting your team has ever had—searchable, accessible, and conversational.
What’s more, everything is fully customizable. I personally use Shadow to run my weekly syncs, where I ask the assistant to extract five specific things from every team meeting:
Progress: Shadow highlights completed tasks, recent accomplishments, and key milestones so you can easily track momentum from meeting to meeting.
Blockers: It flags any issues or roadblocks that might be slowing down progress—technical, logistical, or interpersonal—ensuring they don't go unnoticed.
Priorities: Shadow surfaces what team members plan to focus on next, helping everyone align on goals for the upcoming week.
Support: It identifies areas where team members may need help, whether it's additional resources, clarity, or decision-making support from leadership.
Feedback: Shadow pulls out key reflections and collaborative notes, helping teams continuously improve how they work together.
All of this is generated automatically—without needing to prompt Shadow in the moment. It’s the kind of meeting support that feels like magic, but it’s all real.
We’re constantly and consistently rolling out with updates. Shadow is paving the way for:
Shadow doesn’t just help with note-taking—it redefines how you capture, share, and act on valuable meeting data.
If you’re already using a meeting assistant, that’s a start. But if you’re ready for smarter, cleaner, and more you-centered meeting intelligence, it’s time to meet Shadow.
👉 Explore Shadow now and see what your meetings have been missing.
