AI vs. The Weekend: How I Automated My Wife's Job

It started with a simple observation: my wife spending yet another perfectly good weekend hunched over her laptop, surrounded by notepads, rewinding and replaying meeting recordings like she was searching for hidden messages in Beatles songs. As a minute-taker for multiple boards, she'd spend anywhere from 3 to 6 hours per meeting, meticulously transcribing, organizing, and formatting discussions into pristine meeting minutes.

Being the tech enthusiast (my wife would say "obsessed") husband I am, I saw an opportunity. "What if AI could do this?" I thought, already mapping out the architecture in my head. My wife's response? Let's just say it ranked somewhere between her refusal to upgrade from her "perfectly fine" non-smart TV and that time she asked the Apple Store if they sold flip phones. Yes, really.

When Worlds Collide: Tech Enthusiasm Meets Old-School Charm

Here's something you should know about my wife: she's the kind of person who still checks out physical books from the library and sketches with actual pencils on real paper. Meanwhile, I'm tinkering with AI prototypes until 1 AM just to see if I can (okay, sometimes 2 AM, but who's counting?). We're like a high-tech startup founder married to a vintage bookstore owner - two different worlds that somehow make perfect sense together.

But this fascinating contrast got me thinking about a broader challenge in business today: How do we bridge the gap between cutting-edge technology and those who prefer traditional methods? More importantly, how do we make this transition not just possible, but practical and profitable?

The Traditional Minute-Taking Marathon

Before we dive into the AI solution, let's break down what traditional minute-taking actually involves:

1. Watch the meeting recording (often 1-2 hours)
2. Take detailed notes throughout
3. Transfer notes to an official template
4. Paraphrase and capture key points
5. Review and proofread
6. Submit to the board
7. Make amendments if requested
8. Resubmit and pray

It's like writing a book report, but with more parliamentary procedure and less teenage angst.

Enter the Machines (Cue Dramatic Music)

So, I built a proof of concept. An AI system that could:

• Watch meeting recordings
• Transcribe discussions
• Identify key points
• Generate a draft document

The results? What took my wife 3-6 hours could be done in under 3 minutes, at a cost of roughly $8 in API tokens. That's not a typo - we're talking about turning a half-day job into something that takes less time than making coffee.

The Plot Twist: It Wasn't Perfect (Yet)

Like any good story, there were some challenges. Our AI minute-taker struggled with:

• Formatting output in the exact template structure
• Identifying speakers in poor audio conditions
• Catching visual cues (like raised hands for voting)
• Processing longer meetings due to token limits

It was like having a brilliant new hire who can crunch numbers at lightning speed but hasn't quite figured out how to read the room.

The Technical Bits (Don't Worry, We'll Keep It Light)

For the technically curious (but not technically overwhelmed), here's how we're planning to solve these challenges:

The Template Problem

• Solution: Train the AI using examples from previous minutes through "few-shot learning"
• Think of it like teaching someone how to format a document - instead of explaining complex rules, you just show them a few perfect examples and say "make it look like this." That's few-shot learning in a nutshell: learning by example rather than explanation

The Long Meeting Challenge

• Solution: "Chunking" - breaking the meeting into 15-minute segments
• Think of it like breaking down a long movie into episodes - easier to digest and process, but still tells the complete story

The Context Problem

• Solution: Overlapping segments to maintain continuity
• Picture it like those "Previously on..." TV show recaps, but for business meetings

The Future of Minute-Taking (And Why Human Oversight Matters)

Could my proof of concept completely automate the minute-taking process? Technically, yes. Should it? That's where things get interesting.

The transformation I'm seeing isn't about replacing humans - it's about changing how work gets done. Think of it like this: instead of being stuck in the weeds of transcription, the minute-taker becomes a project manager - assigning tasks to AI, reviewing its work, ensuring accuracy, and making judgment calls that only humans can make. It's like having a highly capable assistant who can do the heavy lifting, but still needs your expertise to ensure everything meets the right standards.

This shift from "transcriber of everything" to "curator and overseer" isn't just more efficient - it's more engaging. It lets people focus on higher-value activities where human judgment and understanding are essential. The AI handles the time-consuming task of creating the first draft, while humans ensure the final product captures not just the words, but the true meaning and context of what was discussed.

The Bottom Line (Because Every Business Post Needs One)

The real story here isn't just about how I automated meeting minutes - it's about finding that sweet spot between efficiency and effectiveness, between innovation and tradition. It's about recognizing that the best solutions often aren't about choosing between human and machine, but discovering ways to make them work together, with each playing to their strengths.

And yes, my wife still prefers her manual method. But she did admit that having AI handle the first draft "wouldn't be the worst thing in the world." Coming from someone who still writes shopping lists on paper, I'm counting that as a win.

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