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Otter.ai is kinda safe: safe enough for the person using it, less so for the people it records, whose consent Otter leaves to you. It also trains its own AI on de-identified meeting audio, with no opt-out named.
Use it if you record your own lectures, interviews or internal calls where everyone has agreed, with auto-join limited to meetings you pick.
Be careful if your calls include clients, patients or anyone who has not agreed to be recorded, since their consent is your job, not Otter's.
Skip it if you discuss patient health information on a Free, Pro or Business plan; HIPAA coverage needs Enterprise and a signed BAA.
sources checked 2026-10-13 · by dan scutaru
| what we checked | what we found |
|---|---|
| Who runs it, where data sits | Otter.ai Inc., AWS in the US A Mountain View company; its help center says data is stored in the AWS West (US) region. source |
| Used to train AI | Yes, de-identified On "de-identified audio recordings and on transcriptions (which may contain Personal Information)", per the policy. source |
| Sold or shared | Ad data may count as a "sale" Device, cookie and location data go to ad partners; a footer link opts you out. source |
| Who must get consent | You, not Otter Otter's security page says users "must always ask for consent and indicate when they are recording". source |
| Certifications | SOC 2 Type 2, it says A company claim; the report sits behind an access request on its trust center. source |
| HIPAA | Enterprise only, with a BAA Otter is not a business associate until a BAA is signed; HIPAA is an Enterprise add-on. source |
| Lawsuit | Class action, core claims survive Filed from August 15, 2025; on August 13, 2026 the wiretap and biometric claims survived a motion to dismiss. Undecided. source |
| Deleting your data | Self-serve, permanent Deletes conversations from Otter's servers, if you are the only member of your workspace. source |
It is alive and undecided. In re Otter.AI Privacy Litigation, in federal court in San Jose, joins four suits filed from August 15, 2025. Seven people allege the Notetaker recorded their calls, including with medical and financial professionals, without consent, and that Otter kept the audio to train its models.
In August 2026 the judge kept the federal and California wiretap claims: a tool that keeps recordings for its own use may be a third-party eavesdropper. That is a pleading ruling, not a finding. Class certification runs to September 2027.
Only on Enterprise, and only after you sign a Business Associate Agreement. Otter's help page says HIPAA compliance "is only available for the Enterprise plan". Free, Pro and Business accounts get no BAA, so patient information does not belong there.
Even with a BAA, Otter tells healthcare customers to turn off public link sharing and manage auto-join themselves.
If it is your account, change the auto-join default to "Meetings I manually select" (steps above), then recheck events you toggled before.
If it is someone else's bot, nothing in Otter is yours to change. The host can remove it from the participant list, and a waiting room keeps it out. The lasting fix sits with the Otter user, which is why the person most exposed is usually the one without an account.
Yes. Basic is free with 300 transcription minutes a month and a 30-minute cap per conversation. Pro is $16.99 a month, or $8.33 billed yearly.
Only partly. The bot appears in the participant list, and an optional setting emails guests first. Carleton College's IT team found that recording through Otter's Chrome extension showed others no notice.
Yes, on de-identified audio and on transcripts that may contain personal information. The policy names no opt-out beyond a general right to withdraw consent.
Account Settings, General, Delete account. It is permanent; in a shared workspace, the owner has to remove you.