Sam Liang, the CEO of Otter.ai, wants the company to be recognized for more than just transcribing meetings. His vision is for Otter.ai to become an essential resource for businesses, and the new products launched on Tuesday mark the beginning of this transformation.
On Tuesday, the Silicon Valley-based AI meeting assistant company introduced a set of enterprise tools aimed at seamlessly integrating meeting data into various business processes by channeling it into a centralized knowledge hub. The goal is to expand Otter’s reach by enabling organizations to extract greater value from their recorded meetings.
The latest offerings from Otter include an API for custom integrations with platforms such as Jira and HubSpot, an MCP server that links Otter data to external AI systems, and a new AI agent capable of searching through a company’s meeting notes and presentations.
Liang described this to TechCrunch as the next chapter for Otter.
“We are shifting from simply taking meeting notes to becoming a comprehensive knowledge base for company meetings,” Liang explained. “This serves as a record system for conversations, supporting organizations in scaling and delivering tangible business results.”
When Otter was established in 2016, only a few companies focused on meeting transcription, a stark contrast to the current landscape. The AI surge that began in 2022 led to a wave of new startups like Granola and Circleback, while established names such as Fireflies have also experienced renewed interest.
Liang believes this evolution sets Otter apart from its previous competitors.
According to Liang, meetings are the primary repository of organizational knowledge, whether it’s notes from a sales call or brainstorming a marketing campaign. However, without a unified location for these notes, their usefulness is limited.
“Inefficiencies often arise due to isolated information,” Liang noted. “Teams may be unaware of each other’s activities, thinking plans were set weeks ago, even as those plans change without everyone being updated. Our solution is to implement a permissions system so that most [nonconfidential] information is widely accessible.”
Not all meetings recorded with Otter will automatically be included in the company’s knowledge base, and users have the option to limit access to notes from sessions involving confidential topics.
Despite these access controls, concerns about employee and data privacy persist. Even meetings on neutral topics can be transcribed by Otter, capturing casual conversations before and after the official meeting, which may include sensitive remarks or comments intended for a limited audience.
Otter is also facing a class-action lawsuit filed in August, alleging that the company recorded private conversations without consent and used those recordings to improve its transcription technology.
Liang stated that while he cannot discuss the lawsuit in detail, this is not a challenge unique to Otter. He believes that, in general, greater information access is preferable.
“If we’re being accused, then so could every other service that offers meeting transcription,” Liang remarked. “I believe we’re contributing positively to this new era of AI. For AI to be truly helpful, it needs to be present in meetings.”
