Microsoft Teams can now keep outside note-taker bots in the lobby

A new Teams meeting policy blocks external bots it identifies from joining automatically. Organisers then have to let each bot in separately.

Microsoft has added a way to stop outside bots from walking straight into Teams meetings. Under a change listed on 23 September, Teams can automatically block external bots it identifies, such as third-party note-takers, when they try to join.

Admins turn this on through Teams meeting policies. When it is on, the bots wait in the lobby and are shown to the organiser as bots. The organiser then has to admit each one separately and on purpose. Microsoft says the aim is that nobody lets a bot in by accident while admitting a group of people. In the same update, admins can now manage app and agent installs from either the Microsoft 365 admin center or the Teams admin center, and changes carry across Teams, Outlook and Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Plenty of meetings now include a note-taker that belongs to a guest, and it records and transcribes everything said. That might be fine for a routine catch-up, but not for a meeting about pricing, staff or a client's private details. Until now, it was easy for an organiser to admit a bot along with everyone else in the lobby.

If you manage Teams for your business, check whether this policy suits you and who it should apply to. Then tell staff what to do when a bot is waiting, including when it is fine to let one in and how to ask a guest to leave theirs out. Remember this covers bots from outside your organisation, so your own team's recording and transcription settings still need their own rules.

Blocking outside bots by default gives organisers a clear choice about who is recording. Your staff still need to know how to make that choice.