Otter.ai Sued For Allegedly Turning Workplace Meetings Into AI Training Data

A federal class-action lawsuit accuses Otter.ai of secretly recording private conversations and using them to train its AI without proper consent.

Otter’s tool, known as Otter Notebook, can automatically transcribe Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams meetings.

The lawsuit claims the software often joins calls without asking participants for permission and fails to alert them that transcripts may be shared with Otter for AI training.

Otter’s policy says users give “explicit permission” for AI training by checking a box, but the lawsuit argues many are still misled into sharing private conversations.

The lawsuit highlights how its Otter Notetaker assistant can join calls automatically once integrated with a host’s account—sometimes without any participant’s consent.

Otter says it anonymises audio before feeding it into machine-learning models, but the case raises fresh concerns about workplace surveillance and AI training practices.