Using the Meeting bot: the AI companion in your Teams, Zoom or Google Meet call

With the Meeting bot voice mode, the AI companion leaves the in-game voice chat and instead joins the team's video call as a participant. The team talks on the call as they normally would, the companion listens and speaks there, and after each round it can stay on to open a short debrief. This article explains what to expect before, during and after a round.

Before you start, set the game's VOIP mode to Meeting bot and paste the call's invitation link into Meeting link, as described in Boomerang voice (VOIP) modes. The session needs an AI companion persona.

Before the round

The companion is sent into the call when the facilitator's game host connects, during the lobby. Joining takes roughly 20 to 60 seconds.
It appears under the persona's name. Someone on the call must admit it from the lobby or waiting room, as you would any other guest. It gives up if it is not admitted within 30 minutes.
Its video tile shows a Jenson8 pink orb, which breathes while it listens and pulses while it speaks. Underneath you will see its name and a "listening" or "speaking" label.

During the round

The companion hears each person on the call separately and keeps track of who is who across rounds, even when players change colour or role.
If it is not sure who is speaking, it asks for their colour and role rather than guessing.
It replies in the language of the person it is answering. A player can ask it to speak a particular language and it will keep doing so for them.
If the call is large and the companion's voice starts to break up, ask participants to turn off their cameras and screen sharing.
When the round ends and the game host closes, the companion leaves the call after about 10 seconds, unless a debrief is due.

The debrief after each round

Personas can be configured by Jenson8 to stay in the call for a number of minutes after each round (10 by default) to debrief the team. The debrief is led by the facilitator; the companion opens it and then steps back.

The companion steps out of character and says which character it was playing.
It gives one short opening: what went well, what could be better, what has changed since earlier rounds, and one concrete thing to try next round.
It then hands over to you. From this point it speaks only when it is named, asked a question, or clearly being replied to.

Some points about how it behaves in a debrief:

Criticism is always addressed to the team, never to a named person or colour. Praise can name individuals.
It raises the team's trust in the AI companion as a reflection question, which is especially useful with personas that are deliberately unreliable.
Anyone who talks over it for about a second takes the floor.
It remembers each round's debrief and uses those notes to comment on progress in later rounds of the same session.
The debrief still runs if you stopped the round early, as long as the round was actually played. You can leave the game at the results screen and the debrief carries on in the call.
The debrief ends when its time is up, when the next round's host connects, or when the call ends.

Checklist for facilitators

Create the call in advance and paste the link into the game before activating it.
Appoint someone on the call to admit the companion from the lobby.
Tell participants that the companion is an AI, that it hears the call, and what its name is.
Plan your debrief questions. The companion's opening is a prompt, not a replacement for your facilitation.