In my eyes, one of the greatest benefits of AI is that it automates the tedious chore of jotting down meeting notes. Before AI note-takers, instead of focusing on what was being discussed, I often found myself scrambling to write everything down, only to realize later that I'd missed half the context.
Finding an AI note-taker isn't difficult. There are hundreds of free and paid tools available, and even physical devices like the Plaud Note I reviewed not too long ago. And while a transcript or an AI-generated summary is certainly helpful, I wanted to do something more with my notes.
Fortunately, I knew the perfect tool to help me achieve that: Google's NotebookLM. So, I decided to pair my AI note-taker, OpenAI's Whisper, with NotebookLM, and trust me when I say this: it completely changed the way I handle meetings.
What is Whisper?
The tool you need for incredibly accurate transcription
Whisper is an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system developed by the creators of ChatGPT, OpenAI. Its primary function is to transcribe audio into text accurately. OpenAI claims that the system is trained on 680,000 hours of multilingual audio. The primary reason I use Whisper is simply because of how powerful it is. Its transcription accuracy is impressive, it handles multiple languages with ease, and unlike many note-taking tools, it doesn't feel limited or locked behind a paywall.
Whisper isn't a dedicated AI note-taking service like Otter or Firefly. This means it doesn't generate summaries, highlight action items, or structure notes the way dedicated AI note-taking tools do. However, pairing it with NotebookLM lets me get the best of both worlds -- impeccable transcription accuracy and the ability to interact with my meeting content in ways a plain transcript alone never could.
Whisper is also open-source and can be self-hosted, meaning privacy is never a concern. Unlike most other transcription services, like Otter, where you're essentially trusting their word that your data is secure, Whisper processes everything locally on your device. That makes it the perfect tool for confidential meetings, sensitive client calls, or any situation where privacy can't be compromised.
The only real con of using Whisper is that it isn't the most user-friendly tool out there, at least that's what I think. You need to go through a fairly complex setup process, and it's definitely not as simple as downloading an app and hitting "record."
Though tech-savvy people who frequently download similar apps will breeze through the setup, for the average user it can feel a bit intimidating at first. That said, once everything is set up, Whisper delivers accuracy, privacy, and flexibility that most other AI note-takers simply can't match.
If you'd like to learn how to record and transcribe your meetings with Whisper, check out our detailed article on the tool, where we explain exactly how to set it up.
NotebookLM lets me interact with my meetings like never before
Find what matters without the hassle
Sure, a transcription of a meeting is a great way to have a record of everything that was said. But what if you'd rather quickly ask specific questions like "What were the main action items?" or "Was xyz topic discussed?" and get the answer immediately without needing to manually dig through the transcript? NotebookLM lets you do exactly that (and more).
With Whisper, once you've uploaded a recording of the meeting you'd like to transcribe and the AI has successfully processed it, a complete transcript will be saved on your device. Different file formats tailored for different use cases will be created, like .txt, .json, .srt, or .vtt.
The one I often use when pairing with NotebookLM is the plain .txt file, since it's simple to upload and doesn't include any formatting. Once I have the .txt file ready, all I do is create a new NotebookLM notebook and drop the file in as a source. I can then interact with it and ask any and every question I may have. Since Whisper doesn't generate a summary of the meeting or analyze it like many dedicated AI note-takers, I can do it easily with NotebookLM.
All I need to do is send NotebookLM a generic prompt like: "Summarize this meeting and highlight the key action items," and within seconds, I get a clear, concise overview of everything that matters. From there, I can ask any follow-up questions I may have (and NotebookLM suggests some you should ask), ask it to expand on certain topics, explain anything I find complex, and more.
If you're wondering, "Hey, it's an AI tool, it's just going to make things up," NotebookLM's got your back there too. Any and every claim it makes is always backed up by citations, and hovering over them will instantly show you the source of the information. This makes it easy to verify any point and double-check facts.
Mind Maps lets me connect dots between meetings
Link discussions, spot trends, save time
Though I tend to create individual notebooks for each meeting I want to analyze using NotebookLM, there are a few meetings I attend on a recurring topic or project. In those cases, I upload multiple transcripts into a single notebook and then use NotebookLM's Mind Map feature to see how different discussions connect, identify recurring themes, and spot patterns across meetings.
Before I used NotebookLM for this, it was a task I essentially had to do manually, which not only was extremely time-consuming, but I'd also lose track of what was discussed and often miss a lot of obvious connections between topics. Now, the entire process is automated, and all I really have to do is upload the transcripts.
Whisper + NotebookLM is the ultimate meeting power duo
It's 2025. AI is already here, and it's not going anywhere. It's time we find ways to use it to help us work smarter, and what I walked through above is frankly one of the clearest and easiest ways to integrate AI into your workflow in a way that's actually useful rather than gimmicky.
