“I could handle it, if the photos arrive” is not an assigned task. “We will look at it on Friday” does not establish a delivery deadline either. When creating meeting minutes with AI, preserve these differences: a polished table can turn an idea into an obligation.
We will turn fictional notes into minutes showing what the team can act on and what it needs to clarify. Written notes are enough; you do not need to record the meeting.
1. Number the notes before summarizing
The fictional team at Vertex Studio is preparing a product catalog. These are the complete available notes:
- [1] Context: meeting on September 9. Attendees: Julia, Mateo, and Noa. Topic: product catalog.
- [2] Decision: all three approve a trial with eight products before deciding whether to expand the catalog. No publication date is set.
- [3] Agreed action: Noa accepts the task of checking which photos of those eight products are available and sharing the list before September 11.
- [4] Conditional offer: Mateo says, “I can lay out the trial if we receive all the photos.” The assignment is not confirmed; no deadline is set.
- [5] Proposal: Julia suggests hiring an external photographer. Neither hiring nor a budget is approved.
- [6] Ambiguous note: “We will look at it on Friday.” It does not say what will be reviewed or whether this means a meeting or a delivery.
- [7] Open issue: image usage permissions need checking. Nobody accepts the task; no date is set.
Before using real notes, check that the tool and data are authorized. Remove unnecessary personal and confidential information. Drafting help does not need access to the team's entire archive.
2. Distinguish four kinds of information
| Type | Required support | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Decision | Explicit approval | Eight-product trial [2] |
| Agreed action | Accepted assignment; deadline if recorded | Noa checks photos before September 11 [3] |
| Proposal or offer | Idea or availability; approval missing | External photographer [5]; Mateo's offer [4] |
| Open issue | Recognized gap or ambiguity | Permissions [7]; meaning of “look at it” [6] |
An accepted action can lack a deadline: write “deadline not agreed.” Mateo's assignment itself still needs confirmation; treating it as definite would be another unsupported leap.
3. A prompt for minutes from notes
Copy the complete block: it contains the source you need to evaluate the response.
Prepare draft meeting minutes in English using ONLY these notes. Use: context; decisions; agreed actions; proposals and offers; open issues and questions. Reference each entry with [n]. For actions, show task, owner, and deadline. If a field is missing, write "not agreed." Do not assign tasks based on job title or who mentioned a problem. Do not turn conditional offers into assignments or infer dates from ambiguous phrases. Do not invent budgets, approvals, publication, or completed work. Preserve relevant conditions. End with specific questions to resolve gaps. Do not send anything. NOTES: [1] Meeting on September 9. Julia, Mateo, and Noa. Product catalog. [2] All three approve an eight-product trial before deciding whether to expand the catalog. No publication date. [3] Noa accepts checking available photos of those eight products and sharing the list before September 11. [4] Mateo: "I can lay out the trial if we receive all the photos." No confirmed assignment or deadline. [5] Julia proposes an external photographer. No hiring or budget approved. [6] "We will look at it on Friday." No topic specified; unclear whether meeting or delivery. [7] Check image permissions: nobody accepts the task; no date. END OF NOTES.
Avoid asking it to “complete every field so it looks professional.” An unassigned field may be the most useful information in the minutes.
4. Example minutes with visible sources
The following is an illustrative editorial example. It does not come from an actual test of an AI tool.
Draft minutes — Vertex Studio
September 9. Julia, Mateo, and Noa. Product catalog. [1]Decision: eight-product trial before deciding on expansion. No publication date agreed. [2]
Agreed action: Noa will check available photos of the eight products and share the list before September 11. Completion is not recorded. [3]
Conditional offer: Mateo can lay out the trial if all photos arrive. Assignment awaiting confirmation; deadline not agreed. [4]
Proposal: external photography. Hiring and budget not approved. [5]
Open issues: clarify “we will look at it on Friday” [6]; assign the permissions check and agree a deadline [7].
Questions: What will be reviewed on Friday: is this a meeting or a delivery? Is Mateo's assignment confirmed if all photos are available, and with what deadline? Who will check permissions, and by when?
Noa checks availability; sourcing photos and approving permissions are not assigned to her. Reference [3] helps catch a response that merges these tasks.
5. Correct convincing but inaccurate minutes
Suppose the draft says, “Mateo will deliver the catalog on Friday, and Julia will hire the photographer.” It makes four unsupported changes: offer becomes assignment, trial becomes complete catalog, ambiguous phrase becomes deadline, and proposal becomes hiring.
Request a specific correction: “Check those two statements against [2], [4], [5], and [6]. Keep the eight-product trial as a decision; restore Mateo's offer and the hiring proposal to their original status. Leave Friday awaiting clarification.” Then compare the revision yourself. Another response does not prove the error is fixed.
Checks before sharing the minutes
- Does each decision have explicit approval in the notes?
- Are scope, conditions, and exact deadlines preserved, including “before”?
- Are task owners kept separate from people who suggested ideas?
- Do unfinished actions remain unfinished?
- Are offers, unassigned issues, and ambiguities visible?
- Can the team confirm or correct the draft before treating it as final?
Quick exercise: an action without a date
New notes: “The team agrees that Alba will send the supplier list. Alba accepts. Ivan suggests having it on Tuesday; nobody confirms that date.” Record the action without losing the agreement or inventing its deadline.
See a worked answer
Agreed action: send the supplier list. Owner: Alba. Deadline: not agreed. Tuesday is Ivan's proposal, awaiting confirmation. Follow-up question: “Alba, what deadline can we agree for sending it?” The missing date does not erase Alba's acceptance of the task.
If the minutes lead to an external message, check again what can be communicated as a commitment. Our example customer complaint reply with AI covers that step. For more complete tasks to practice, Get to Work with AI includes 12 workshops, 12 exercises with worked solutions, and a final assignment: draft, check, and decide which result is ready to use.