Meeting AI & Transcript Policy

1. Scope and guiding principles

This policy applies when a CivicOps Customer chooses meeting transcription, AI-assisted minutes drafting, or related Meeting AI features. These tools are optional administrative aids. They do not replace the municipal clerk, governing body, legal counsel, or the Customer’s records-management process.

CivicOps follows four operating principles: send only the content needed for the requested task, keep each Customer workspace isolated, give authorized Customer users control of working records, and require human review before AI-assisted text becomes part of an official record.

2. Customer control of meeting records

The Customer retains ownership and control of its meeting audio, transcripts, agenda materials, annotations, AI-assisted drafts, adopted minutes, and related records. CivicOps processes that content to provide the features the Customer requests and to follow the Customer’s documented instructions.

The Customer decides whether to record or transcribe a meeting, who may access the working material, what edits are required, whether a draft is adopted, and how the final record is published or retained. CivicOps does not independently declare an AI-assisted draft accurate, complete, approved, or official.

3. Content used for Meeting AI

When an authorized user requests transcription or a draft, CivicOps may process the selected audio, transcript text, agenda headings and items, attendance information, and meeting details needed to perform that request. CivicOps does not intentionally send unrelated Customer workspace content.

CivicOps may receive a transcript from audio, organize transcript segments by speaker or agenda item, and use the relevant transcript and meeting structure to propose headings, attendance language, motions, decisions, and narrative minutes. The resulting content remains a working draft until an authorized human reviews and accepts it.

4. AI provider data practices

CivicOps currently uses the OpenAI API for requested transcription and AI-assisted drafting. CivicOps sends OpenAI only the meeting content needed for the requested operation. For current text-drafting requests made through the Responses API, CivicOps sets store: false.

OpenAI states that data sent to its API is not used to train or improve OpenAI models by default unless the API customer explicitly opts in. CivicOps does not use Customer meeting content to train a CivicOps general-purpose model. OpenAI’s current endpoint table lists no application-state or abuse-monitoring retention for audio transcription. For Responses API requests, setting store: false avoids ordinary response application-state storage, but it does not by itself eliminate provider abuse-monitoring logs. Under OpenAI’s standard controls, those logs may contain customer content and may be retained for up to 30 days unless longer retention is required for the reasons OpenAI describes. OpenAI also states that prompt caching for supported Responses requests may retain encrypted key-value tensors on GPU-local storage for up to 24 hours under applicable standard controls. That cache is provider application state, and its availability depends on the account’s data-control configuration.

OpenAI offers approved customers additional controls, including Modified Abuse Monitoring and Zero Data Retention. Those controls require OpenAI approval and may not apply to every account, project, model, or feature. Provider practices can change; the current details are available in OpenAI’s official API data-controls documentation.

5. CivicOps retention and deletion

CivicOps retains working transcripts and AI-assisted drafts according to the applicable customer agreement and the Customer’s municipal instructions. CivicOps does not impose a single fixed transcript-retention period that overrides a Customer’s approved records schedule.

Authorized Customer administrators may request deletion or export of working transcripts and AI-assisted drafts through CivicOps support and may use self-service deletion controls where those controls are available. Any deletion remains subject to a legal hold, public-record requirement, preservation instruction, active investigation, or other rule that requires the material to remain available. Deleting working material does not automatically delete separately approved or published minutes, audit history, or another municipal record that must be retained.

Limited backup, security, and audit copies may remain for the period described in the customer agreement or CivicOps Privacy Policy. CivicOps will not delete Customer Data contrary to a valid preservation instruction or legal requirement.

6. Workspace isolation and access

Meeting AI records are scoped to the Customer organization and meeting that created them. CivicOps uses organization-level data separation, authenticated sessions, role-based access, and user-level controls for private working material. One municipality’s transcript, draft, or annotation is not made available in another municipality’s workspace or used as context for another Customer’s request.

Customer administrators are responsible for granting access only to authorized personnel, removing access when duties change, protecting account credentials, and deciding whether particularly sensitive content is appropriate for the feature.

7. AI disclosure and mandatory human review

CivicOps identifies AI-assisted content as a draft or proposal in the product. AI output may omit context, misidentify a speaker, misunderstand a motion, state a vote incorrectly, or use language that does not match the Customer’s practice.

An authorized human must compare the draft with the source record, correct names and attendance, verify motions and roll-call votes, review legal and accessibility requirements, and approve the final text. CivicOps does not automatically publish an AI-assisted draft as adopted minutes or represent that AI output satisfies open-meeting, public-record, accessibility, retention, or other legal requirements.

8. Customer responsibilities

The Customer is responsible for determining whether it has authority to record or transcribe a meeting and for providing any notice or obtaining any consent required by law, labor agreement, municipal policy, or meeting procedure. The Customer should not submit privileged, sealed, exempt, or specially regulated content unless its authorized officials have approved that use and any required safeguards are in place.

This policy explains product operations; it is not legal advice or a guarantee of compliance. Customers should consult their own counsel, clerk, records officer, and information-security personnel about their obligations.

9. Changes and contact

We may update this policy as Meeting AI features, providers, or data practices change. We will post the revised policy with a new effective date and provide additional notice when required by a customer agreement or law.

Questions, deletion requests, and Meeting AI support requests may be sent to help@getcivicops.com.

See also our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.