Otter.ai Sued for Allegedly Recording Calls Without Consent
Otter.ai, the prominent developer of AI-powered transcription and note-taking services, is currently facing a class-action lawsuit in California, alleging significant privacy violations. The suit, filed last Friday in federal court by San Jacinto resident Justin Brewer, contends that Otter.ai is recording private conversations without securing consent from all participants and subsequently utilizing these recordings to train its artificial intelligence models.
According to the complaint, Brewer himself does not hold an Otter account but joined a Zoom meeting in February where the company’s Otter Notetaker software was actively running. He claims he was entirely unaware that the service would capture and store his data, or that the content of the call would be repurposed to refine Otter’s speech recognition and machine learning algorithms. The lawsuit specifically targets Otter Notetaker, a tool designed to record and transcribe virtual meetings held on platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams in real time.
Typically, when an Otter account holder joins a virtual meeting, the software prompts the host for permission to record the session. However, it does not automatically seek consent from every other participant on the call. The lawsuit further alleges a more concerning scenario: if a host has integrated Otter with their Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams accounts, an Otter Notetaker bot can reportedly enter the meeting without requiring explicit consent from anyone present, including the host themselves.
The complaint, which was initially reported by NPR, states, “Crucially, Otter does not obtain prior consent, express or otherwise, of persons who attend meetings where the Otter Notetaker is enabled, prior to Otter recording, accessing, reading, and learning the contents of conversations between Otter accountholders and other meeting participants.” The plaintiffs argue that this practice constitutes a violation of both state and federal wiretap and privacy laws. Moreover, it is alleged that users’ conversations are being exploited to train Otter’s AI models for the company’s direct financial gain.
In response to the allegations, a representative for Otter.ai provided a statement to Gizmodo, emphasizing, “While we are reviewing the matter, it is important to note that Otter does not initiate recordings on its own. Recording only occurs when initiated by an Otter user, and our Terms of Service make clear that users are responsible for obtaining any necessary permissions before doing so.” However, the lawsuit pushes back against this defense, accusing Otter of attempting to sidestep its legal obligations by shifting the burden of responsibility onto its account holders.
Founded in 2016 under the name AISense, Otter.ai has experienced substantial growth, now boasting over 25 million users and exceeding $100 million in annual recurring revenue. Yet, even prior to this class-action suit, concerns regarding the service’s privacy practices had surfaced among its user base. For instance, an AI researcher last year reported that Otter had recorded a Zoom call with investors and subsequently sent him a transcript that included “intimate, confidential details” discussed after he had already exited the meeting. Separately, Politico’s China correspondent reportedly discovered that Otter shares user data with third parties after utilizing the service during an interview with a Uyghur activist. These instances underscore a pattern of privacy-related anxieties preceding the current legal challenge.