Is Otter.ai safe with your data?

Otter.ai

Otter.ai, Inc.

45/100

Weak disclosure · high confidence

Otter.ai earns a D (45/100) because it leaves much about its data practices unstated.

Dealbreaker flag

D1.1: training our proprietary AI technology on de-identified audio recordings and on transcriptions (which may contain Personal Information)
D1.4: You grant Otter.ai a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully paid right and license (with the right to sublicense)

#114

of 216 apps ranked

score · Meeting intelligence avg 54

-9

vs category average

Grade scaleA · 70–100B · 60–69C · 48–59D · 35–47F · 0–34

Otter.ai trains its own speech models on user recordings and transcripts without offering a way to decline, takes a sublicensable licence over uploaded content, and keeps personal information for as long as it considers necessary with no stated period.

What Otter.ai's privacy policy and terms of service say about your data

Recordings feed model training

The policy lists improving and monitoring the service as including training Otter's proprietary AI on de-identified audio recordings and on transcriptions that may contain personal information, and names no way for a user to decline.

Content licence goes beyond running the service

While the customer keeps ownership of uploaded content, the terms take a worldwide, royalty-free licence with the right to sublicense, covering hosting, modifying, exporting, transforming and distributing that content through any media channel.

No retention period stated

Storage is described only as for as long as necessary to fulfil the policy's purposes or to meet a legal obligation, with no number of days, months or years anywhere in the text.

Recipients named, and some disclosures called a sale

The policy names Amazon Web Services, Stripe, Google and Amplitude among recipients, and concedes that some disclosures to advertising and analytics partners may count as a sale of personal information under US state law, with a Do Not Sell or Share link in the site footer.

What the policy is silent or vague on

Not stated: keeping user inputs out of model training
Not stated: a way to opt out of training
Not stated: your ownership of generated outputs
Not stated: shorter retention for AI conversation logs

Otter.ai privacy rating

Training-data use0 of 4 disclosed

Keeps user inputs out of model training, or makes training opt-inSilent

Names a way to opt out of or into trainingSilent

Says whether training use differs by plan or tierPartial

Lets the user keep ownership of generated outputsSilent

Data-subject rights1 of 5 disclosed

Grants a right to access your dataPartial

Grants a right to delete your dataPartial

Offers data portability in a usable formatPartial

Grants a right to correct your dataPartial

Grants a way to object to or opt out of processingDisclosed

Retention and deletion0 of 4 disclosed

States a retention period for your dataPartial

States a deletion timeline after closure or requestPartial

Sets a shorter retention for AI conversation logsSilent

Commits to collecting only the data it needsPartial

Third-party sharing1 of 5 disclosed

Lists the categories of third parties it shares withDisclosed

References a sub-processor list or data processing agreementPartial

Does not sell or share data for advertising, or offers opt-outPartial

Names a safeguard for international data transfersPartial

States a standard for government and law-enforcement accessSilent

Transparency2 of 5 disclosed

Discloses that you are interacting with AIDisclosed

Marks AI-generated or synthetic outputSilent

Enumerates the categories of data it collectsDisclosed

Maps processing purposes to legal basesPartial

Is versioned and dated, with change noticePartial

Sensitive data and children1 of 2 disclosed

Discloses automated decisions and a human-review pathNot applicable

Limits the use of special-category dataPartial

Governs biometric data specificallyNot applicable

States protections for children's dataDisclosed

Security and accountability1 of 3 disclosed

Describes its security safeguardsPartial

Commits to breach notificationPartial

Names a certification or a privacy contactDisclosed

DisclosedPartialSilentAdverseNot applicable

Details

Category: Meeting intelligence
Modalities: text, audio
Processes biometrics: No
Policy last updated: 2026-06-16
Region scored: Global / US-default
Last assessed: 2026-10-13

Documents examined

Other meeting intelligence apps

Each grade reflects our analysis of what an app states in its public privacy policy and terms as of the assessment date. It measures the transparency of those documents, not the company's actual data practices, security, or compliance. Grades are our opinion, offered for general information. Full disclaimer.