Beware of AI bots

You may have noticed a wave of AI bots (third party application add-ins) attending your Teams meetings. These bots have been known to record video and audio, generate a transcript, send an email to everyone in the meeting and request they create a “free” account to view the meeting notes.  

Please resist the temptation for a free trial of any these utilities. It is against USC and State of South Carolina policy to install or utilize unauthorized software on state-owned equipment and networks. Unauthorized third-party AI bots compromise the security of USC’s network. All proposed software, including add-ins or add-on apps, should be reviewed and approved by the Technical Review Board after following the IT Purchasing process.  

USC has already blocked two of the most aggressive AI bots (Read.AI and firefly.ai) for internal users, but if you have external participants in your meetings, they may have Read.ai installed on their accounts. 

Take action

For the security and protection of our data, if you notice an unauthorized AI bot (such as Read.ai) attending a meeting, please bring it to the attention of the host or highlight the attendee in the user list and right click “Remove participant”. Any internal user can remove an external participant that is uninvited or unauthorized. 

Report it

If you see a new AI bot showing up in multiple meetings and exhibiting these unauthorized behaviors, please mention it to your IT administrators for a possible blocking in our USC tenant. Please use this ticket to report it. 

Use authorized software

If you would benefit from AI-generated transcripts and summaries, please discuss purchasing Teams Premium for your department through Software Distribution.