Class-Action Suit Claims Otter AI Privacy Lawsuit Over Secretly Recorded Conversations

A major Otter AI privacy lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accusing the transcription company of secretly recording private work meetings without participants’ consent. The suit was brought on August 15, 2025, by Justin Brewer of San Jacinto, California, who claims his privacy was “severely invaded” after discovering Otter.ai had captured a confidential conversation without his knowledge.

At the center of the Otter AI privacy lawsuit is Otter’s Notebook tool, which automatically transcribes meetings on Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. The software requires permission only from the meeting host, not other attendees. According to the complaint, this loophole allows Otter to “deceptively and surreptitiously” record conversations in violation of federal and California privacy and wiretap laws.

The lawsuit also alleges that Otter profits from these unauthorized recordings by using the data to train its artificial intelligence models. While the company insists that meeting audio is “de-identified” before reuse, the filing argues that Otter provides no meaningful explanation of how anonymization works or whether it adequately protects users’ personal information.

Otter.ai, which has processed over 1 billion meetings for 25 million users worldwide, has faced increasing scrutiny over its privacy practices. Reports have surfaced of conversations being transcribed even after participants left meetings, and earlier this year, concerns arose that Otter-generated notes contained sensitive details about a human rights activist.

If the court grants class-action status, the Otter AI privacy lawsuit could impact thousands of users across California. Potential outcomes include compensation for affected individuals, stronger transparency measures, and major reforms to how Otter handles consent and recording in virtual meetings.

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