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Popular AI transcription tool Otter has been hit by a federal lawsuit which alleges it “recorded, accessed, read, learned, and utilized” the contents of people’s conversations without getting the necessary consent first. It also claims Otter used these conversations to train its machine learning technology.
The complaint, filed in US District Court for the Northern District of California, focuses on one of Otter’s products, Otter Notetaker, which produces real-time transcriptions of Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams meetings.
The suit says that Otter recorded not only account holders who use Otter Notetaker but meeting participants who do not subscribe to Otter’s services. It argues that as Otter failed to disclose when it was active and recording meetings, when the other members had not given consent, it is in violation of both federal and California privacy laws. These include the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 and the California Invasion of Privacy Act. It is seeking class-action status.
The plaintiff, Justin Brewer, participated in a Zoom meeting in February 2025, where Otter Notetaker was used to transcribe a meeting he attended. As he did not know he was being recorded or give his consent to the transcription, the complaint says this allowed Otter to “wiretap his communications.”
Though Otter’s privacy policy clearly states that it “de-identified” its audio recordings, meaning the recordings were altered to remove the identifying data, it pointed to research on the ineffectiveness of these techniques. The complaint also highlights that one of Otter’s competitors, Read.ai, permits any participant, including those who do not use Read.ai, to stop recording during a meeting.
This isn’t the first time privacy issues have been raised about Otter’s services. In 2024, the University of Massachusetts banned Otter.ai, as its IT department said it violated the state’s all‑party consent law. NPR, which covered the lawsuit, noted that a Politicojournalist who interviewed a Uighur human rights activist raised concerns in 2024 that the Chinese government could attempt to access the transcriptions of his conversations with political dissidents.
PCMag has reached out to Otter for comment.
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