AI tools have become an important part of how many MSU faculty and staff participate in meetings, from capturing notes to supporting accessibility and focus. MSU IT’s role is to help make sure these benefits continue in ways that protect university and personal data.
As part of our strategy for securing mission-critical collaborative work, developed in consultation with partners in research, education, and operations, IT will begin blocking third-party AI bots that connect directly to Zoom and Teams in the coming weeks. This applies to bots outside of Microsoft 365 that auto-join meetings to record, transcribe, summarize, or otherwise process meeting content, such as Otter.ai.
What you should do
- MSU IT offers secure, supported alternatives that provide similar AI‑powered features while keeping meeting content within MSU systems. Use any of the supported tools that can be found at the MSU Tech Store:
- Microsoft Teams Premium for advanced meeting protection and management
- Microsoft 365 Copilot or Zoom AI Companion for AI powered meeting notes and summaries
- These solutions ensure your content remains within systems that meet university data security and compliance requirements.
- If you have a business need that you believe requires an external tool, please work with your unit leadership and submit a request to MSU IT to review alternatives and compliance implications.
Why this change is occurring
- Blocking external AI meeting bots helps protect meeting content and keeps recordings, transcripts, and summaries under MSU’s data governance and privacy standards.
- Using Zoom AI Companion, Teams Premium, or Microsoft 365 Copilot keeps meeting contents (recordings, transcripts, notes, summaries, etc.) under MSU’s data governance model.
- Learn more about advanced meeting protection.
Where to find support
- Our goal is to support AI‑enabled work responsibly while protecting you and the university. If you need help enabling Teams Premium protections or using Copilot in Teams or Zoom AI Companion for summaries, please contact the MSU IT Service Desk or your unit’s IT lead.
