Otter, the AI-powered meeting assistant that transcribes audio in real time, is adding one other layer of AI to its product with today’s introduction of Meeting GenAI, a recent set of AI tools for meetings. Included with GenAI is an AI chatbot you possibly can query to get details about past meetings you’ve recorded with Otter, an AI chat feature that may be utilized by teams and an AI conversation summary that gives an summary of the meeting that took place, so that you don’t must read the total transcript to catch up.

Although journalists and students may use AI to record things like interviews or lectures, Otter’s recent AI features are aimed more at those that leverage the meeting helper in a company environment. The corporate envisions the brand new tools as a complement or substitute for the AI features offered by different services like Microsoft Copilot, Zoom AI Companion and Google Duet, for instance.

Explains Otter CEO Sam Liang, the thought to introduce the brand new AI tools was inspired by his own busy schedule.

“I even have 30 — sometimes greater than 30 — meetings every week. Sometimes I’m even double-booked. I couldn’t go to 2 or three meetings at the identical time, but my Otter autopilot would tune into those meetings on my behalf,” he said, referring to the Otter feature that lets an AI bot record a gathering so that you can review later.

Now, users will have the opportunity to read an AI-generated summary of what was covered in that meeting, including a paragraph followed by an inventory of motion items. Otter’s customers may now interact with an AI chatbot where they’ll ask questions on what took place up to now meeting or others.

For instance, you might ask the AI chatbot things like “What did the CMO say?” or “Did they modify the launch date?”

While Liang admits Otter is just not the primary to supply an AI companion for meetings — Microsoft Copilot and Zoom’s AI companion even have the same feature — he believes that Otter’s version is more powerful and more comprehensive.

“You should utilize AI chat to question your entire meeting history,” he explains. Meaning you possibly can return to ask questions on prior meetings, not only the one you’re reviewing.

One other feature offers an AI chatbot that joins Otter’s channels where group chats happen. Here, the bot interacts like every other chat with one other participant and may be invoked by anyone who asks Otter an issue. For instance, as users are chatting with one another, they might pause to ask the AI an issue, like, “Hey Otter, what’s our revenue?” The AI chatbot will then answer your query.

The eventual goal is to have Otter more proactively participate by chiming in when it thinks it has something helpful to supply, by analyzing what’s being discussed. Perhaps if a colleague didn’t know a solution to an issue, Otter could in the future respond after looking back through the corporate’s meetings history and finding the reply shared elsewhere.

Image Credits: Otter

Otter’s data is stored within the cloud and secured, much like other cloud-based services like Dropbox or Google’s Gmail, but nobody who isn’t authorized by the corporate could have access to the meeting data. This enables people to access Otter, including its AI features, via any device, including their laptop or smartphone. Otter also isn’t using a customer’s data to coach its AI, it says, even though it allows individual users to contribute their recordings via an opt-in basis.

Notably, the corporate doesn’t plan to charge for its recent AI features. While Microsoft charges $360 per 12 months for its Copilot in Office 365 and Teams, Otter’s GenAI will likely be included each within the free plan and the $20 per thirty days Marketing strategy.