Show HN: AI meeting notes – no bot, insights and answers from your files (BYOK)

Meeting notes for Google Meet that never leave your machine — AI Assist

Local-first · BYOK · macOS + Linux · Windows & ChromeOS soon

Meeting notes for Google Meet that never leave your machine.

Live captions, proactive insights citing your own files, and ask-any-question grounded in the folders you've permissioned. Your keys, your machine. $3 one-time.

Download for macOS

Add to Chrome

See pricing

Both pieces are required · 14-day free trial · No bot joins your call

~$225/yr cheaper than Otter Business — you pay Anthropic + OpenAI direct, no per-seat markup.

On Windows or ChromeOS? Get notified when it ships →

Live in your meeting tab. Captions stream into the panel; answers are grounded in the files you've shared with the local helper — with citations.

Built for people who actually take notes

Bring your own keys

You pay Anthropic for the LLM and OpenAI for Whisper directly. We never see the keys, never mark up usage, never throttle you.

No third-party bot

The extension runs in your browser. Captures the tab you're already in. No Otter, no Fireflies, no awkward "AI Assist has joined the meeting" notification.

On-device transcription

Captions from your meeting tab go to a local helper. Whisper transcription runs through your own OpenAI key. Raw audio never touches our servers.

Proactive insights during the call

As the meeting unfolds, AI Assist auto-surfaces "findings" — the relevant excerpts from your own notes, docs, and past transcripts, cited by filename. You don't have to ask. It's like having a colleague quietly pulling up the right document the moment it's mentioned.

Ask anything, grounded in your files

Type or highlight a question — "what did we decide about the export pipeline?", "what's the 2025 interest expense for Precision?" — and the answer comes back with citations to the folders you've permissioned. On-device embeddings; the files never leave your machine.

Optional cloud sync, end-to-end encrypted

Want past meetings on other devices? Turn on cloud sync — $3/mo. Transcripts are encrypted on your device with a key derived from your master key. We see ciphertext only.

Meet + Zoom Web today · Teams coming soon

Google Meet and Zoom Web work out of the box today; Microsoft Teams Web coming soon. The extension stays narrow on purpose — single content-script per meeting host, easy for reviewers to audit.

How AI Assist compares

AI Assist Otter Fireflies Granola Tactiq

Bring your own API keys ✓ — — — —

No bot joins your call ✓ — — ✓ ✓

Audio never leaves your device ✓ — — partial* —

Proactive insights citing your files ✓ — — — —

Ask questions grounded in your local files ✓ — — — —

One-time price option ✓ $3 — — — —

Cloud sync end-to-end encrypted ✓ — — — —

• Granola captures locally but sends audio to their servers for processing. Based on public product docs as of July 2026.

Pricing

Desktop license

$3

one-time payment

Perpetual access

14-day free trial first

All transcription & summary features

On-device file indexing

Free updates within v0.x

Buy desktop license

Cloud sync add-on

$3

per month

Sync transcripts across devices

End-to-end encrypted

Optional — desktop works without it

Cancel anytime

Add cloud sync

RF

I built AI Assist after getting sick of Otter's bot joining every call I was on — and paying per seat for the privilege. This one runs on your machine, uses keys you already have, and costs $3 once. If that's the meeting notes tool you've wanted to exist, it now does.

— Ricardo Figueroa, solo dev · [email protected]

What you'll need

AI Assist runs against your own LLM + transcription accounts so we never see your data or your spend. ~5 minutes from download to first meeting.

1

An Anthropic API key

For the LLM that powers summaries + grounded answers. Get one at console.anthropic.com. Pay-per-use, ~$0.50–$2 per typical meeting depending on length.

2

An OpenAI API key

For Whisper transcription. Get one at platform.openai.com. About $0.006/min of audio (~$0.36/hr).

3

A free AI Assist account

For pairing the browser to your desktop helper and (optionally) cloud sync across devices. Sign up takes 30 seconds.

Common questions

Is my meeting audio ever uploaded to your servers?

No. The desktop helper runs on your machine and streams audio directly to your OpenAI account via your own Whisper API key. AI Assist's backend never sees the audio.

Do I need to install two things?

Yes — the Chrome extension captures the meeting tab, and the desktop helper runs Whisper + Anthropic through your keys locally. Both downloads are free; the $3 is a one-time license for the helper. Setup is ~5 minutes.

What does "BYOK" mean and why does it matter?

Bring Your Own Keys. You pay Anthropic (LLM) and OpenAI (Whisper) directly, so you own the spend and we never see your API usage. Your typical cost is ~$0.50–$2 per meeting for the LLM plus ~$0.36/hr for Whisper — versus Otter Business at $19.99/user/mo whether you use it or not.

Can I ask questions about my own files during a meeting?

Yes — this is one of the main things AI Assist does. Point the desktop helper at folders you want indexed (a due-diligence pack, your engineering docs, meeting notes, contracts) and it builds a local vector index using on-device embeddings. During any call, type or highlight a question and the answer comes back with citations to specific files. The files themselves never leave your machine. See the architecture page for the data-flow diagram.

What are "proactive insights"? Do I have to click anything?

As the meeting unfolds, AI Assist watches the transcript and — when it detects a topic that overlaps with your indexed files — automatically surfaces a "finding" in the overlay: a short excerpt from the relevant file, cited by filename. You don't have to ask. Turn it off with the Auto toggle in the overlay header if you'd rather stay quiet and just ask questions manually.

How is this different from Otter or Fireflies?

No bot joins your call. Your audio never leaves your machine. You pay Anthropic + OpenAI direct with no per-seat markup. And the desktop client is $3 one-time, not a monthly subscription. See the comparison table above.

Does it work in Zoom or Teams?

Yes to both. Google Meet and Zoom Web are supported today; Microsoft Teams Web coming soon. The extension deliberately stays narrow — one content script per meeting host — so reviewers can audit it easily.

Is there a free trial?

Yes — 14 days, all desktop-license features included. Cloud sync is a separate $3/mo add-on and is optional; the desktop app works completely offline for local transcripts.

What about Windows or mobile?

macOS and Linux ship today. Windows and ChromeOS are actively being worked on — join the waitlist. There's no mobile plan; the whole point is that transcription runs on your own machine.

What if my company's IT team blocks AI notetakers?

Your call. AI Assist is designed exactly for the "no third-party bot, no audio upload, no per-seat SaaS contract" checklist that's been driving those blocks. Read the full architecture at /security, or email [email protected] to talk through it with your team.

We can't read your data, by design

The desktop helper runs on your machine and holds your keys. The browser extension talks to it over localhost. If you turn on cloud sync, transcripts are encrypted on your device with a key derived from your master key — the cloud stores ciphertext only. Read the full privacy policy →