How do I keep a decision record for AI-assisted meetings?

The trigger

A decision meeting has just closed with an AI note-taker in the room. The summary will be fluent, but it records what people said, not which proposal prevailed or under whose authority. Within one business day, close the meeting with a six-field decision control record confirmed by a named person. The AI summary is an input, never the record.

The inputs

• The AI summary or transcript, captured with participant consent
• The human recorder's notes, or your own
• The agenda, with each item marked DECISION, ADVICE, INFORMATION or EXPLORATION
• The decision maker or chair, recorded as [DECISION_MAKER]
• The papers and advice tabled, with version or date
• Access to the register where the team's decisions are stored

The steps

1. Confirm the item was a DECISION item. Only decision items need a record; do not let a discussion be rewritten later as approval.
2. Identify who holds the authority. Use your team's map of decision rights for AI-enabled work; the AI operator and meeting organiser are not default owners.
3. Replace names in the approved notes with role tokens such as [ATTENDEE_ROLE], then run the prompt below in your enterprise AI workspace.
4. Review every field against the source notes, and take each [NOT RECORDED] and [CHAIR TO RESOLVE] item back to [DECISION_MAKER] while memory is fresh.
5. Have [DECISION_MAKER] confirm the final wording, restoring conditions and dissent the AI summary smoothed over. A decision that warrants a fuller page extends into the decision memo skill file.
6. File the confirmed record in the decision register and set the review date as [DATE].

The prompts

Run this on the approved, role-tokenised notes in your enterprise workspace.

Convert the approved meeting notes below into a decision record with
six fields:

- Decision: the exact conclusion, as an action or approved position.
- Evidence: the papers, data and advice relied on, with version or
  date.
- Conditions: caveats, limits and stop triggers attached.
- Authority and ownership: the person who approved the decision
  ([DECISION_MAKER]) and, separately, the delivery owner.
- Dissent: material disagreement and unresolved questions, without
  manufacturing consensus.
- Execution: due date, review date ([DATE]) and the system where the
  record will live.

Use only the notes. Do not infer agreement, authority, evidence or
dates. Write [NOT RECORDED] where support is missing. List
conflicting statements under [CHAIR TO RESOLVE].

Approved notes:
[PASTE APPROVED NOTES]

The checks

• The record names a decision, not a topic
• Every field traces to the source notes; nothing is inferred
• Dates, versions and role titles match the papers tabled
• Dissent and caveats survive; restore anything the AI summary smoothed into consensus
• All [NOT RECORDED] and [CHAIR TO RESOLVE] items are closed before the record is issued

Governance controls

• [DECISION_MAKER], the person or chair with authority, signs the record; the AI operator, meeting organiser and model are never default owners.
• Consent is confirmed before any AI note-taker runs; sensitive meetings such as HR matters and disputes follow the stricter consent-before-the-transcript protocol with capture off by default.
• Notes are de-identified with role tokens before they reach the AI tool; no real names.
• The record is stored where the team's decisions live, not only in the AI tool, and the transcript's retention follows the organisation's records rules.
• Where the record and the AI summary disagree, the account of the humans in the room prevails.

The output

A short, confirmed decision record covering decision, evidence, conditions, authority, dissent and execution, signed by [DECISION_MAKER] and filed in the decision register with a review date. The AI summary and transcript remain working material under the retention rule.

Time it takes

Allow 25 minutes on the first run while the prompt, register location and confirmation step settle; a practised run takes 15 minutes, inside one business day.