PulseTelling people you are recording (for individuals)
Choosing and setting up the notice features available on a personal account.
How to enable the transparency features on your own account. You can post a notice automatically in the meeting chat, overlay a transcribing indicator on your camera image, or both. There is also Japanese wording below that you can paste into chat or read out at the start of a meeting.
How each feature looks to participants, and which meetings each suits, are compared in About the transparency features.
Configuration requires the desktop app (macOS / Windows). The Google Meet automatic chat notice additionally needs the browser extension.
This article is for setting up the notice features on your own account. If you are an administrator applying them across a workspace, see Enabling the transparency features for your organisation (for admins). Where an administrator has already applied them organisation-wide, you cannot turn them off in your own settings.
Where the settings are
Open Settings > Preferences > Transparency in the desktop app and you will find two items.
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Automatic chat notice | posts a message once in the meeting chat after transcription starts |
| Watermark | overlays a small indicator on your camera image while transcribing |
The automatic chat notice and watermark items listed one above the other, each with an on/off toggle or a “Set up” button on the right.
Write the range of plans on which the transparency features can be enabled from individual preferences to match UNCHAIN, Inc.'s terms. This article assumes users on the free, Personal and Team plans can enable them from their own settings. Workspace-wide enforcement is an Enterprise administrator feature.
Setting up an automatic chat notice
The steps differ by meeting app. Go to the article for the app you use.
Setting up the watermark
Two things confirm it is set up: in a test meeting with at least one other participant, starting transcription posts the notice once in the chat; and, if you use the watermark, the camera selected in your meeting app is the watermarked one and a badge appears in the corner of your own video.
Sample notice wording
The longer the message posted in meeting chat, the less it is read. One or two sentences with only what is needed works best in practice. The wording below can be copied as-is. For wider situations — a line for a meeting invitation, draft internal policy clauses — see How far you can rely on AI meeting notes (a guide for teams).
Write whether users can edit the body of the automatic chat notice to match Pulse's behaviour. Where it cannot be edited, the wording below can be used for a spoken announcement at the start of a meeting, or posted into the chat manually.
1. For internal meetings (casual, polite form)
この会議は議事録作成のため、Pulseで文字起こしをしています。不都合があれば言ってください。
Wording for a short regular meeting or a discussion within a team. For meetings held with the same people each time, this length sits about right.
2. For external and customer meetings (formal, concise)
本日の打ち合わせは、議事録作成のためPulseで録音・文字起こしをしております。ご都合が悪い場合はお知らせください、停止いたします。
Saying explicitly that you can stop makes it easier for the other party to ask. If they do ask, stop transcription there and then.
3. For a first sales meeting (covering purpose and retention)
本日の商談は、社内での内容共有と議事録作成のために録音・文字起こしをしております。記録は弊社内でのみ利用し、〔保存期間の月数〕か月で削除いたします。ご希望があれば停止いたします。
With someone you are meeting for the first time, covering what the record is for and how long it is kept is reassuring. Put the retention period your organisation has set, as a number, at 〔保存期間の月数〕. You can check the retention setting under Automatic transcript deletion.
4. For meetings with English speakers (Japanese and English)
この会議は議事録作成のため文字起こしをしています。ご不都合があればお知らせください。/ This meeting is being transcribed for meeting notes. Please let me know if you'd prefer we stop.
The Japanese and English are separated by a slash to fit on one line. Depending on who is in the meeting, putting the English first can get it read more reliably.
Where you would rather not name the tool, you can replace “Pulse” in the wording with something like “an automatic transcription tool”. What matters is not the tool's name but two things: that a record is being kept, and that it can be stopped.
When a participant objects
If a participant objects to the notice, stop transcription there and then. You can pause from the transcript panel at the bottom of the note screen, stopping the record without ending the meeting. Parts already recorded can be deleted block by block. How to do that is explained in How transcription works.
If you are asked to delete something after the meeting, delete the note itself or just the part concerned. The steps are in Deleting and restoring notes. How to proceed after stopping — switching to typed notes, pausing only for a sensitive item — is set out in How far you can rely on AI meeting notes (a guide for teams).
Do not use Pulse to record a conversation you are not part of. Leaving a device in a meeting room while you step out, or continuing to record while the other party is away, means you are no longer recording as a party to the conversation, and civil liability becomes possible. For guidance, see How far you can rely on AI meeting notes (a guide for teams).
If something is not working
- The notice is not posted: the automatic chat notice is sent once transcription has started and there is at least one other participant. It is not sent while you are alone in the meeting. The detailed conditions and remedies per meeting app are in Automatic Google Meet chat notices (for individuals) and Automatic Zoom and Teams chat notices (for individuals).
- The watermark is nowhere to be seen: check the camera setting in your meeting app is the Pulse camera. Watermark settings (for individuals) has per-app checks in its troubleshooting.
- I cannot change the setting: where your organisation's administrator has enabled it workspace-wide, you cannot turn it off in your own settings. Check with your administrator.
Related articles
For anything else, contact tharada@the-unchain.com.