š Permissions: Recording a session is switched on for your whole workspace by Minikai, and it is off by default. This article is written for the Admins who decide whether to turn it on. Once it is on, any user who can access a Mini can record. Learn more about roles ā
Recording a session is different from every other thing Minikai does, because it captures people who never chose to use Minikai: the person you support, their family, an advocate, a colleague passing through the room. That makes it something your organisation needs to have thought about before your team starts using it, not after. This article sets out what sits with you, and what Minikai does to help.
When to read this
You are deciding whether to turn recording on for your workspace and want to know what you are taking on.
You are briefing your team before they start recording sessions, and you need to know what to tell them.
You are updating your privacy collection notice or your consent forms and need to know what changes.
Someone has asked to stop being recorded, or asked for a recording of them to be removed, and you need to know what is possible.
Who is responsible for what
The short version: your organisation decides who gets recorded and obtains their agreement. Minikai handles the recording safely once that decision is made.
Your organisation is responsible for:
Obtaining the consent of everybody who will be recorded, before any recording happens.
Meeting the law that applies to recording conversations in each state or territory you operate in.
Making sure your privacy collection notice covers the recording of sessions, not just AI-supported documentation.
Deciding when recording is and is not appropriate in your service, and telling your team.
Minikai is responsible for:
Keeping the recording switched off until you ask for it.
Asking the worker to confirm, every single time they start a recording, that everybody present has been told and has agreed.
Showing clearly, throughout the session, that recording is happening.
Transcribing inside your data region and never keeping the audio afterwards, and never using it to train AI models.
ā ļø Recording conversations is regulated in its own right: Separately from privacy law, every Australian state and territory has surveillance devices or listening devices legislation that governs recording a private conversation.
The requirements are not the same everywhere. In some jurisdictions it is enough that one person in the conversation consents; in others every participant must. In several, recording without the required consent is a criminal offence rather than a compliance problem, and there can be separate restrictions on sharing a recording or a transcript even where the recording itself was lawful.
If you operate in more than one state or territory, the position can differ between your sites. Please confirm your own position before turning recording on. Minikai cannot give you legal advice on this, and we would rather say so plainly than have you rely on us for it.
Step 1: Confirm your legal position
Check where you stand in each state or territory you operate in, and get advice if you need it. Write down the answer, because the person who has to act on it is a support worker standing in someone's living room, not a lawyer.
Decide, and record, whether there are situations in your service where recording is never appropriate. Common examples worth thinking through are sessions involving a person who cannot give informed consent, safeguarding conversations, and anything involving a third party who has not agreed.
Step 2: Update your privacy notice and consent process
Your collection notice needs to cover the recording of sessions specifically, and it needs to reach people who are present without being your clients, such as family members and advocates.
Think about how consent is obtained and recorded in your own systems. A tick in Minikai is a worker confirming they have done this; it is not a consent record, and it will not stand in for one.
š” Tip: Ask us for suggested wording. We keep privacy notice wording that covers AI-supported documentation and session recording, and we are happy to share it as a starting point for your own review.
Step 3: Brief your team
Before anybody records, make sure your team knows four things:
Tell the room first. Everybody present is told the session is being recorded, what it will be used for, and agrees, before recording starts.
Anyone can say no. If someone declines, or asks to stop partway through, stop. A person does not need to give a reason.
Never record covertly. That includes recording colleagues for performance or disciplinary reasons. This is out of scope for the feature and, in many places, unlawful.
The transcript is a draft. It is produced automatically and it can mishear names, medications, numbers, and words like "not". It must be read and corrected before it is used.
Step 4: Know what happens if someone changes their mind
Before the transcript is created, a worker can discard the recording. The audio is deleted and no transcript is made.
After the transcript has been added to a chat, it cannot currently be removed on its own. If someone withdraws their agreement after the fact, contact us through the Help Desk and we will work through the options with you. We are actively building a better answer to this, and we would rather tell you the current position clearly than let you find out at the worst moment.
ā¹ļø What happens to the audio: The recording stays on the worker's device while the session runs, then goes to Minikai to be turned into text. Transcription happens inside your data region. The audio is not saved anywhere afterwards, by us or by the transcription service, and it is never used to train AI models. Only the transcript is kept, as part of the chat.
Making this work in practice
Give your team the words. A short, plain sentence they can say at the start of a session works better than a policy document. Something like: "I'd like to record this so I can write it up accurately afterwards. The recording gets turned into text and then deleted. Is everyone okay with that?"
Start narrow. Pick one team and one type of session, see how it goes, and widen from there.
Revisit consent, don't assume it. Agreement given for one session is not agreement for every future session. Minikai asks the worker to confirm each time for exactly this reason.
Watch the transcript quality early. Accuracy varies with accents, background noise, and people talking over each other. Have your first few users tell you how it reads.
Related articles
Recording a session, the how-to for your team once recording is switched on.
Using dictation, for dictating to a Mini instead of typing. This is a different feature and does not record a room.
Understanding chat privacy, for who can see what in a chat.
Minikai System Card, for what the AI system can and cannot do.
Need help?
If you are weighing up whether to turn recording on, or you want our suggested privacy notice wording, reach out through the Help Desk in the app. We are happy to help, and we would much rather have the conversation before you start than after.