Fathom introduces bot-free meeting mode to compete with Granola

Online meetings today are becoming increasingly crowded. With the rise of AI-powered note-taking assistants, it has become common for multiple bots to join the same call to transcribe and summarise conversations, often resulting in cluttered, distracting meeting environments.

Fathom, a startup focused on AI-driven meeting tools, is attempting to solve this issue with a new update that allows its application to transcribe calls without requiring a bot to join the meeting.

While this approach is not entirely new, as several desktop tools like Granola, Talat, Notion, and ChatGPT already offer similar transcription capabilities, Fathom says it aims to improve the experience. The company’s app can also record video during calls, and users can choose from different recording modes when capturing and transcribing meetings.

Fathom highlighted that it has placed a strong emphasis on improving speaker diarization — the ability to correctly identify who is speaking — making it easier for users to revisit conversations and understand the context later.

“A lot of these bot-less tools don’t indicate who said what in their captured transcript,” said Richard White. He noted that users often encounter issues with incorrect attribution when trying to recall what was said in past meetings, especially when relying on AI-generated summaries.

According to White, the company had long planned to introduce a bot-free transcription experience. Still, recent advances in AI models over the past six months have made it possible to deliver the feature effectively.

In addition to this update, Fathom has introduced new capabilities that enable users to query its meeting database using AI, making it more valuable for business use cases that require broader context. The company is also launching a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, enabling users to extract meeting data and integrate it directly into other AI tools.

This area has recently drawn attention after users of Granola reported issues when changes to its on-device database disrupted workflows that depended on transcript data.

White said Fathom continues to focus on improving transcription accuracy and expanding the ways users can capture meeting content. The company is also planning to release an iOS application that will allow users to record and transcribe in-person meetings.