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What are OtterPilot & Otter AI? Key Features & Benefits
Otter.ai offers an AI-powered application which allows users to record and transcribe meetings via OtterPilot and, via Meeting GenAI, summarize those meetings. Additionally, users can collaborate in live or asynchronous conversations via Otter Chat.
Otter.ai offers an AI-powered application which allows users to record and transcribe meetings (OtterPilot). Other capabilities are layered on top of that base functionality. For example, meetings are summarized via generative AI (Meeting GenAI). For example, Otter Chat enables fellow Otter users to collaborate via chat during and after meetings. Via AI Channels, Otter users can also hold live conversations and receive asynchronous updates. Otter is sold “as a service” with several different tiers and packages targeted toward business, sales, education, and media users.
INTRODUCING Otter.ai and OtterPilot
Otter.ai, also referred to as OtterPilot and Otter, allows users to record and transcribe conversations and meetings on a mobile phone (iOS and Android) or web browser (via a Chrome Extension). Those conversations can be shared to other Otter users and/or exported as text and audio in multiple formats. Otter also supports the import (upload) of audio and video for transcription. The transcribed conversations can be reviewed both as text and in audio that is synched to the text (i.e.., clicking on transcribed text will play that portion of the recording). The following video shows how Otter’s meeting notes feature works.
Otter supports multiple calendar applications (Google, Microsoft), as well collaboration platforms (Zoom, Teams, Meet, Slack), file storage platforms (Dropbox, Amazon S3) and many more. Once linked to a user’s calendar, Otter can be set to automatically record a given meeting.
Understanding Otter AI’s FEATURES
Otter offers multiple solutions which help users increase their efficiency and productivity with respect to taking notes during meeting, generating action items from those meetings, and chatting / conversing with colleagues.
OtterPilot
OtterPilot can automatically join Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams meetings, and transcribe those meetings in real-time. Otter will also automatically create a live summary of the meeting, add slides and screenshares and then generate a summary afterward.
Otter launched its Meeting GenAI feature in February 2024. Meeting GenAI allows users to tap into the summaries of past meetings regardless of the platform on which those meetings happened (e.g., Microsoft Copilot, Zoom AI Companion or Google Duet). So, when an Otter.ai Meeting GenAI user asks a question, Otter will search for answers across all the meetings to which it has access and then generate a response/summary.
AI-Driven Intelligent Project Management
It also introduced AI Chat in Channels and provides a Conversation Summary View which allows action items to be automatically identified and tracked, along with assigned owners and deadlines.
Note that Zoom for Otter (called “Otter Live Notes”) is available in the Zoom Marketplace, and Otter can be configured to automatically join Zoom meetings for real-time transcription, notes, etc. Zoom cloud recordings can then be synced to Otter (but this is only available with the Otter Business plan).
Note: Users of any generative AI-powered application should always check the transcript, summary, action items, etc., for accuracy before distributing anything created by any generative AI-powered application.
OtterPilot’s AI Chat for Meetings
Otter AI Chat provides a way for conversation participants to ask questions about the meeting, the speakers and/or ask it to generate a summary that can be used later. Otter AI Chat can generate these summaries across all conversations including those shared with the user, as well as within a Channel. This functionality is available during and after the live meeting. These questions are private and only viewable by the individual user. The sources of any generated responses and summaries are provided to the user. Per Otter’s support articles, Otter Chat does require the user to be specific and detailed when writing their prompts. At this time, there is a 512-character limit when inputting your question(s) or prompt(s) and Otter indicated that the output of the response is currently limited to approximately 750 words. Users can opt out of AI features.
Otter Channels
A Channel hosts all of a user’s shared, topic-based, or team-based conversations. During the creation of the Channel, users set the permissions for who can view and interact with the given Channel. Otter AI Chat can be used in Channels. All prompts and questions asked to Otter Chat will be visible to all Channel members (source).
Otter Workspaces
Otter Workspaces provides an interface that facilitates collaboration, team management, and administrative controls. A workspace is a single place for the team to access its shared work. Admins can change a role to a team member, deactivate or delete a member's account, or hide them in the team list view. Other capabilities include centralized billing, reporting and analytics, security features (e.g., two-factor authentication) and prioritized customer support. Otter Workspaces is only available for the Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans.
OtterPilot for Sales
This product is currently only available to Enterprise license users. It automatically extracts insights from sales interactions, writes follow-up emails, and pushes call notes to Salesforce and HubSpot. Otter launched its Sales product in September 2023.
Integrations
Otter supports multiple applications and integrations, such as Slack, Zapier, Microsoft Teams, RingCentral, Salesforce, Notion, Google Meet and Drive, Dropbox, Zoom and many others.
Exploring OtterPilot's Applications Across Industries
OtterPilot is applicable to knowledge workers across virtually all industries.
Use of Generative AI Models
Otter does not specify which third-party large language model (LLM) providers it uses, only that it uses a combination of its own internal large language models along with those from different service providers.
On its AI Chat FAQ page, Otter provides the following additional information:
Otter only sends prompts and transcript to 3rd parties if a conversation participant has interacted with Otter Chat by sending a question. No data is sent until a user asks Otter Chat a question.
Data is not stored on any of our 3rd party external providers. The transcript and chat history are passed to external providers when a user asks a question, but it is not stored by them.
Otter’s third party AI service providers do not train on user data or utilize user data for training purposes.
Benefits of Using Otter AI & OtterPilot for Your Business
Otter provides much of the same functionality as the other “AI assistant” solutions – Microsoft Copilot, Zoom AI Companion and Webex AI Assistant.
Differentiators for Otter
At a high level, Otter differentiates itself by:
Offering a completely free tier, albeit with usage limitations.
Supporting multiple collaboration platforms, including those listed above.
Otter’s more advanced capabilities and less restrictive usage limitations are only available in its paid plans which, as mentioned, range in price. By contrast, many of the competing platforms either include their AI functionality with paid plans or, as in Microsoft’s case, charge a premium on top their users’ existing subscription plans. (However, Copilot can be used for free via Microsoft’s Bing search engine.)
Increased Efficiency and Productivity
Otter offers multiple solutions which help users increase their efficiency and productivity with respect to taking notes during meeting, generating action items from those meetings, and chatting / conversing with colleagues.
These efficiency/productivity gains stem largely from users saving time. For example, Otter will automatically transcribe a meeting and summarize it. That summary can simply be forwarded to other colleagues. Additionally, automatically generated action items help save users time, as well.
How to Get Started with Otter AI & OtterPilot Today
For a user, implementing Otter.ai is as simple as downloading and installing the app on their mobile device (and/or the browser extension) and creating an account. Once that’s done, users can begin transcribing meetings via the Free pricing plan. The pricing plan link above provides a table that lists the different features and functions by pricing tier. Business and enterprise users obviously have additional hurdles to implementation.
HOW MUCH DOES Otter.AI COST?
The free version of Otter provides access to Otter's basic features. For more advanced features, users can choose from one of three pricing plans:
Pro: For professionals that require more minutes and advanced features. This costs $10 USD per user per month, billed annually.
Business: For larger businesses or those seeking advanced administration tools. This costs $20 USD per user per month, billed annually.
Enterprise: For very large businesses or those in highly regulated industries. Pricing is not publicly available.
Otter Chat is available for all plans. For Basic Free users, there will be a limit of 3 prompts per conversation. There are also monthly limits on questions asked for each plan.
Want to know more?
No Jitter has reported on Otter.ai over the last few years:
