VCs rename themselves on Zoom to opt out of AI recording

According to a new Wall Street Journal report on the rise of AI transcription apps, venture capitalist Jeremy Levine has a wry workaround for something that routinely annoys him: on Zoom, he no longer appears as “Jeremy Levine” but as “Jeremy Levine I do not consent to transcribing or recording.”

The move reflects how ubiquitous always-on recording has become, driven by a growing crop of AI note-taking apps and devices — many of which TechCrunch has covered and even ranked. VC Eric Bahn tells the Journal he now assumes his meetings with founders are being recorded, even before he spots a phone sliding across the conference table. One founder told the outlet she records most of her first dates using the Granola app, then feeds the transcript to Claude afterward to gauge whether she came across as more engaging or empathetic, and to see who did most of the talking.

Levine describes the trend as socially unacceptable behavior that can kill spontaneous conversation, and other people quoted in the piece note that constant recording is also a legal minefield.

The Journal’s report raises a further question: if every meeting, watercooler chat, and romantic outing gets transcribed and summarized, who is actually reading any of it? At some point, the audio record of every conversation risks becoming a landfill nobody has time to play back.

Why it matters

The anecdote captures a broader shift as AI transcription defaults to on, raising open questions about consent, legal exposure, and whether anyone can actually make use of the resulting pile of recorded conversations.