Otter.ai has been capturing the spoken word in meetings for eight years. Now, it’s embarking on a more ambitious journey. The company, a pioneer in the AI meeting assistant category, has processed countless meetings. Still, its CEO, Sam Liang, believes the industry is stuck at a rudimentary stage. “Transcription, summary, a little bit of chat,” Liang told UC Today. “But they’re not really connecting the knowledge.”
The new focus for Otter.ai is the Conversational Knowledge Engine. This aims to transform how meeting data is processed across organisations, forming a comprehensive knowledge network. This network maps entities like clients, projects, and topics, tracking discussions and expert insights over time. With enterprise employees spending over half their time in meetings, there’s much to be learned from these interactions.
Liang highlights a significant gap in enterprise technology. While enterprises have systems for sales, HR, and financial data, there’s been no system for conversational data. Meeting intelligence, he notes, often gets buried, leaving vast business insights untapped for over a century.
The new engine introduces a Slack-like permission model. Organisations can decide the privacy levels of meeting notes, and data retention settings dictate how long records are kept before deletion. However, Otter.ai faces challenges. Giants like Microsoft, Zoom, and Google are also players in this field, but Liang critiques them for being fragmented. Moreover, the company faces legal scrutiny regarding recording consent. In response, Liang claims, “We’re on the right side of history.”
The market for AI meeting assistants is booming. It’s expected to grow exponentially in the next decade. Liang envisions a future where voice replaces written prompts entirely. “AI already knows who you are, what your preference is… by listening to you,” he said. He believes that in a few years, people will rely heavily on AI, with voice as the primary interface.
As the market evolves, Otter.ai’s approach could redefine enterprise communication. Whether it can outpace tech giants and navigate legal challenges remains to be seen. Nonetheless, it’s an exciting prospect for AI and communication technology.
