AI Assist
Summary
Every SaaS meeting notes tool eventually sends a bot into your call, marks up your API spend, and holds your transcripts on their servers — then charges per seat for the privilege. AI Assist is a solo-built desktop extension that routes around all three.
The tool installs as a browser extension, captures audio from your active meeting tab, and runs Whisper transcription through your own OpenAI key — raw audio never touches the vendor's servers. As the call unfolds, it auto-surfaces excerpts from your local files, cited by filename, without you typing a query. You can also ask questions directly and get answers grounded in the folders you've indexed, with citations. The ceiling appears at scale: it targets individuals and small teams working from a single machine, not organizations that need shared workspaces, admin controls, or SSO. Teams that outgrow solo use will find no per-seat tier to grow into.
Bottom line: Pick this if you have your own Anthropic and OpenAI keys, take notes on one machine, and want to stop paying a markup to a service that joins your calls — but if your team needs shared access to meeting history across five seats, this architecture has no path there.
Pricing Plans
Usage-Based- Price
- $3 one-time
Desktop license
Perpetual access to all transcription and summary features
- On-device file indexing
- 14-day free trial
- Free updates within v0.x
Cloud sync add-on
End-to-end encrypted sync of transcripts across devices
- Cancel anytime
- Optional - desktop works without it
View full pricing on getaiassist.app →
Pricing may have changed since last verified. Check the official site for current plans.
Community Performance Report Card
No community ratings yet. Be the first to rate this tool!
Community Benchmarks Community
Sign in to submit a benchmarkNo community benchmarks yet. Be the first to share a real-world data point.
Pros
Sign in to edit- BYOK routing means you pay Anthropic and OpenAI directly at their published rates, so there is no per-seat markup and no vendor throttling — the vendor states typical meeting cost runs $0.50–$2 depending on length.
- No bot joins the call, which means attendees never see an 'AI Assist has joined' notification — the extension captures the tab you are already in, removing the social friction that makes tools like Otter awkward in client meetings.
- On-device Whisper transcription means raw audio never leaves your machine, so you can run this on calls involving sensitive commercial or legal content without routing audio through a third-party pipeline.
- Proactive file-grounded insights surface relevant excerpts from your local documents during the call without a typed query, so you stop context-switching to search your notes mid-conversation.
- A one-time license price covers perpetual access within the v0.x line, so the cost equation does not change month over month as it does with subscription-based competitors.
Cons
Sign in to edit- The tool only supports Google Meet and Zoom Web; Microsoft Teams Web is not yet available. Teams whose organization standardized on Teams are blocked entirely until that platform support ships — no workaround exists within the current extension.
- There is no shared workspace, no team seat, and no admin layer. The moment a second person on your team needs access to meeting transcripts, the architecture offers nothing — at that point teams move to a subscription service like Fireflies or Granola that supports multi-user access, even if it means accepting a per-seat cost.
- The tool requires the user to provision and manage two separate API accounts — Anthropic for the LLM and OpenAI for Whisper — before the first meeting works. Users unfamiliar with API key management face a setup barrier that SaaS competitors with bundled transcription do not impose.
Community Reviews
Sign in to write a reviewNo reviews yet. Be the first to share your experience.
About
- Platforms
- macOS, Linux, Windows; ChromeOS soon
- API Available
- No
- Self-Hosted
- Yes
- Last Updated
- 2026-07-21T14:23:51.628Z
Best For
Who it's for
- Users prioritizing on-device processing and data privacy
- Individuals or small teams avoiding per-seat SaaS subscriptions
- Professionals who already maintain Anthropic and OpenAI accounts
What it does well
- Generating meeting notes and captions locally during Google Meet or Zoom calls
- Retrieving cited excerpts from personal documents and past transcripts in real time
- Asking questions about indexed files without leaving the meeting interface
Integrations
Discussion Community
Sign in to commentNo discussion yet. Sign in to start the conversation.
Spotted incorrect or missing data? Join our community of contributors.
Sign Up to ContributeCommunity Notes & Tips Community
Sign in to contributeBe the first to contribute. General notes, observations, gotchas, and tips from people who use this tool day-to-day.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is AI Assist free?
- AI Assist is a paid tool ($3 one-time). A 14-day free trial is available.
- Is AI Assist open source?
- No — AI Assist is a closed-source tool. Source code is not publicly available.
- Can I self-host AI Assist?
- Yes. AI Assist supports self-hosting on your own infrastructure.
- When was AI Assist released?
- AI Assist was first released in 2026.
- What platforms does AI Assist support?
- AI Assist is available on: macOS, Linux, Windows; ChromeOS soon.
Hours Saved & ROI Stories Community
Sign in to contributeBe the first to contribute. Concrete time/cost savings, with context. e.g. "Cut my code review backlog from 4h to 45m per week."
Curated lists that include this category
AI Assist is a macOS and Linux browser extension — with Windows support pending — that generates live captions, meeting summaries, and file-grounded Q&A during Google Meet and Zoom Web calls. The workflow requires two pieces: the browser extension, which captures the meeting tab, and a local helper process that runs Whisper transcription and on-device file embeddings. The user supplies an Anthropic API key for summaries and a separate OpenAI key for Whisper; the vendor states it never sees either key and adds no usage markup. A one-time desktop license covers transcription and summary features indefinitely within the v0.x release line; an optional paid-only cloud sync add-on encrypts transcripts on-device before upload so the vendor sees only ciphertext.
The differentiating feature is proactive file-grounded insights. As the meeting unfolds, the tool auto-surfaces relevant excerpts from documents and past transcripts stored in folders the user has permissioned — cited by filename — without requiring a typed query. Users can also ask specific questions, such as what a past meeting decided about a particular project, and receive answers cited to local files. The vendor describes the embeddings as on-device, meaning the files themselves are never transmitted.
The tool fits professionals who already maintain Anthropic and OpenAI accounts, work from a single machine, and want to avoid the per-seat pricing structure of competitors like Otter or Fireflies. It breaks down when a team needs multiple members to access shared meeting history, requires admin provisioning, or operates on Windows before that platform ships. Microsoft Teams Web support is listed as forthcoming. Solo operators and privacy-sensitive individuals get the most out of it; teams coordinating across seats get nothing the architecture can currently support.