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The avatar in the meeting

in progressForTeaching staffOperator

The avatar joins a video conference appointment, labelled as AI, listens and answers when addressed with title and name.

Why#

An appointment with the familiar figure without the person behind it having to attend every time — with clear rules: recognisable as AI, only those who have consented are transcribed, summary only after approval.

How it works#

  1. 1The operator creates the appointment under “Avatar in the meeting”: conferencing tool, join link, time, figure, image, voice and cost centre.
  2. 2The avatar joins with the display name “… (AI avatar)”; the default is the figure's still image.
  3. 3It greets everyone and says that an AI system is speaking here. In a short round everyone states their name and whether they agree.
  4. 4It only answers when someone addresses it with title and name (“Mr Holtermann …”). Whoever interrupts it stops it.
  5. 5Shortly before the end it points out the time and asks whether to extend; at the end it says goodbye.
  6. 6Afterwards a draft of the evaluation is created — only from contributions of those who have consented. The operator approves or discards it.
  7. 7After approval the operator opens “Preview and sending”: they enter the email addresses that consenting participants provided, set the ticks, look at the email and confirm sending. The summary goes to these people and to the organiser — in the language of the appointment, with the summary as an attachment.
  8. 8If someone who has consented joins later, the operator sends the summary to them individually: choose the person, view the preview, confirm.

Settings and switches#

  • Switchable per tenantDefault: offModule: Avatar im Meeting
  • Switchable per tenant, default off; separate module “Avatar in the meeting” with its own price.
  • Image per appointment: still image (default), profile picture with camera off or live video.
  • Voice per appointment: high-quality voice clone (default), fast voice clone or own speaker.
  • Behaviour if not everyone consents: stay (default) or say goodbye politely.
  • Language of the appointment (one of the platform's fifteen languages) — the avatar speaks in it, and the summary goes out in it; in German additionally the form of address (formal or informal).
  • Organiser per appointment (name and address): they receive the summary too; if not specified, it is whoever creates the appointment.

When the avatar speaks#

It only answers when addressed directly with title and name — “Mr Holtermann”, “Professor Holtermann”, “Doctor Holtermann” —, even if speech recognition slightly mishears the name. The first name alone is never enough, because there may be other people with this first name in the appointment.

A short call without a title only wakes the technology in advance so that the answer comes faster. If someone mentions it in the third person (“… said yesterday …”), it stays silent.

Consent and evaluation#

  • Consent applies per person: only what someone who has consented says is transcribed and evaluated.
  • A no does not stop the whole appointment — it removes everything this person says from transcript and evaluation.
  • What cannot be reliably attributed to a consenting person is not stored either.
  • The evaluation only contains what came up in the conversation: what it was about, recommendations and exactly three next steps — otherwise the lists remain empty.
  • It is always a draft first and only goes out after review and approval by a person.

The summary by email#

  • Only an approved evaluation is sent and only at the push of the operator's button — never a draft, never automatically.
  • Recipients are people who consented in the appointment and provided an address, and the organiser. Whoever said no or withdrew is not on the list and cannot be selected either.
  • Before sending, the preview shows exactly the email that goes out — as a designed version and as plain text.
  • Every address receives the summary exactly once, even if clicked twice. If delivery to an address fails, it can be retried; whoever already has it does not get it again.
  • The email states what it was about, the recommendations and the three next steps, plus the notice that it was created by an AI system and reviewed and approved by the operator, a data protection notice and the contact address.
  • Once all selected addresses have been served, the evaluation is set to “sent”. Every sending run is in the log — with figures, never with addresses.

The summary as an attachment#

  • Every email additionally carries the summary as a file: the same content as the email, in the look of the installation, with the notice that it was created by an AI system, the date of the appointment, the approval note and the creation date.
  • In German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Swedish, Dutch, Ukrainian and Russian this is a PDF.
  • In Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Hebrew and Hindi it is an HTML file that can be opened and printed in the browser — in the correct writing direction. For these scripts the PDF route cannot set the characters cleanly; the recipient's browser can.
  • If a summary contains characters that the PDF cannot set — such as Chinese names in a German appointment —, the HTML file automatically goes out instead of a PDF with empty boxes.
  • The file name states the occasion and the date of the appointment. The preview shows the attachment with name and size; it can be downloaded there.
  • If the file were too large, the email goes out without an attachment — it contains the complete text anyway.

Sending to individual people afterwards#

  • Once sending is complete, the summary can be sent afterwards to individual further people — only to people who consented in the appointment, or to the organiser.
  • Exactly one person per action: enter the address (if there is none yet), “Send afterwards”, view the preview for this person, confirm.
  • Every address receives the summary at most once — whoever already received it in the first sending cannot be selected again. A failed later sending can be retried.
  • The evaluation's sending date remains that of the first sending; every later sending is in the log individually — without the address.

Sending afterwards needs a database change that still has to be approved. Until then the surface shows “not yet enabled”.

Still image and live video#

The default is the figure's still image with sound. The live video with lip movement costs per minute and only starts when the responsible person has explicitly confirmed the displayed price per minute and has specified a cost centre. Without confirmation it stays with the still image.

Billing is per started minute from the start of the video; usage can be evaluated per appointment and cost centre.

Joining the individual conferencing tools is not yet switched on; the feature is switchable per tenant and off by default.

Who may do what#

  • Create appointments, confirm costs, approve drafts and send the summary: only the operator.
  • Only the operator of the own tenant reads transcript and consents; writing happens only on the server.

Tips#

  • Whoever does not agree simply says no: then nothing is transcribed or evaluated from this person — the others' contributions remain.
  • Whoever joins later is asked; until then nothing is transcribed from them.
  • “Please stop transcribing” takes effect immediately and deletes your own contributions.

Under review#

Flow, appointment management, cost confirmation and approval are built and tested; joining the individual conferencing tools follows as soon as servers and accounts are ready.

Related features#