Otter.ai Faces Lawsuit Over Secretly Recording And Using Conversations

Case Overview: A class action lawsuit has been filed against Otter.ai, alleging the company secretly recorded and analyzed private conversations through its Otter Notetaker tool without consent, violating privacy and wiretap laws.

Consumers Affected: Individuals whose conversations were recorded by Otter Notetaker or OtterPilot since August 2023, including non-users unknowingly captured in meetings.

Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

Otter.ai, the popular transcription app, secretly records, stores, and analyzes people’s conversations without their consent, a new class action lawsuit alleges.

The complaint alleges the company used its AI-powered “Otter Notetaker” tool not just to transcribe meetings but to eavesdrop on private discussions, feeding the data into its machine learning models to sharpen performance and boost profits. The lawsuit says that amounts to a massive privacy breach, violating state and federal wiretap laws.

Plaintiff Says Otter Notetaker Tool Acts As An Eavesdropping Device

Filed by San Jacinto resident Justin Brewer, the lawsuit alleges he discovered his Zoom conversation in February 2025 had been captured by Otter without his knowledge. Brewer wasn’t an Otter accountholder and had no reason to expect his personal exchanges were being funneled into a third-party database. 

According to the filing, Otter recorded and “learned” from his words in real time, using them to enhance its transcription technology. Brewer claims this left him exposed to privacy risks he never agreed to, and that the company’s practices amount to electronic eavesdropping.

Privacy Safeguards Allegedly Ignored By Otter.ai’s AI-Powered Tools

Otter has built its reputation on AI tools that automatically transcribe meetings on platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. Its flagship feature, Otter Notetaker, joins virtual meetings as a participant, streaming audio directly to the company’s servers for transcription. But critics say the service is more than a convenience tool for users, it’s also a data collection machine for Otter itself. 

The lawsuit claims Otter bypasses basic consent safeguards, often joining meetings without alerting participants, failing to send pre-meeting notices, and offering no clear disclosure that conversations are retained and used for AI training. 

Even the company’s so-called “de-identification” process, plaintiffs argue, doesn’t reliably protect sensitive information. With more than 25 million users worldwide and over $100 million in annual revenue, the suit contends Otter’s rapid growth has come at the expense of consumer privacy.

Other Tech Companies Face Similar Lawsuits Over Voice Data Practices

Otter isn’t the only tech firm facing scrutiny over how it handles voice data. Amazon is battling multiple lawsuits tied to its Alexa devices, accused of secretly recording snippets of conversations during so-called “false wakes” and quietly harvesting location data without permission. 

Meanwhile, California-based Dialpad is being sued for allegedly recording and analyzing consumer calls to power its AI products without telling people on the line. Together, these cases highlight a growing backlash against companies that embed surveillance-like features into everyday technology.

In his lawsuit, Brewer wants to represent anyone whose conversations have been recorded by the Otter Notetaker or OtterPilot since August 2023. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Northern California, seeks damages, restitution, and an order blocking Otter from continuing the practice. 

Case Details

• Lawsuit: Brewer v. Otter.ai, Inc.
• Case Number: 5:25-cv-06911-EKL
• Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

Plaintiffs' Attorneys

• Matthew R. Wilson, Jared W. Connors, and Ryne E. Tipton (Meyer Wilson Werning Co., LPA)
• Brian Levin, Brandon T. Grzandziel, and Jacob Polin (Levin Law, P.A.)

Do you think transcription apps like Otter.ai should be allowed to use recorded conversations to train their AI systems? Share your views in the comments.