Why Your Meeting Transcripts Should Never Touch the Cloud

Published October 7, 2024 • 8 min read

A recent lawsuit against Otter AI alleges the company records meetings without proper consent, raising serious questions about cloud-based transcription services. While millions of professionals rely on AI to capture their meetings, few understand what happens to their conversations once they leave their device. The reality? Your most sensitive business discussions may be stored indefinitely, analyzed by AI, and used in ways you never authorized.

If you're using cloud-based meeting transcription services like Otter.ai, Fireflies.ai, or Zoom's AI Companion, your conversations aren't just being recorded—they're being uploaded to remote servers, analyzed, and potentially stored forever. This isn't just a theoretical privacy concern. It's a fundamental architecture problem that puts your most confidential information at risk.

⚠️ The Hidden Cost of "Free" Transcription: When a transcription service is free or very cheap, you're not the customer—your data is the product. Cloud AI services analyze your conversations to improve their models, meaning your confidential discussions are literally training their AI systems.

The Otter AI Lawsuit: A Wake-Up Call

The lawsuit against Otter AI highlights a critical issue: users may not fully understand or consent to how their meeting data is being collected and used. While the case is still developing, it raises important questions all professionals should be asking:

Who has access to your transcripts? Cloud services store your data on their servers, potentially accessible to employees, contractors, or third parties.
How long is it kept? Many services retain data indefinitely, even after you delete your account.
What is it used for? Your conversations may be used to train AI models, improve services, or fulfill legal requests.
Where is it stored? Your data might cross international borders, creating GDPR and compliance issues.

How Cloud Transcription Actually Works (And Why It's Risky)

When you use a cloud-based transcription service, here's what typically happens:

Your audio is uploaded to the company's servers (often in real-time during meetings)
It's processed by AI models running in their data centers
The transcript is generated and stored in their cloud database
It remains on their servers indefinitely unless you manually delete it
It may be analyzed to improve their AI models or for other business purposes

At every step of this process, your data is exposed. It's transmitted over the internet, stored on servers you don't control, and processed by systems you can't audit. Even if the company has good intentions, they're creating an attractive target for hackers, government requests, and internal misuse.

      Real Risk Example: In 2023, a major AI company admitted that their employees could access and listen to customer voice recordings to "improve accuracy." Imagine if those recordings included confidential business strategy sessions, legal discussions, or sensitive HR matters.
    

The GDPR and Compliance Problem

For European companies or any business handling EU citizen data, cloud transcription services create significant compliance challenges:

Data Location: GDPR requires that data stays within the EU or approved countries. Most cloud services use US-based servers.
Data Processing Agreements: You need formal contracts with any service processing your data, which many users skip.
Right to Deletion: When you delete a transcript, is it truly gone? Cloud services often retain backups.
Data Breach Notification: If the service is breached, are you notified within the required 72 hours?

The same concerns apply to HIPAA (healthcare), attorney-client privilege (legal), and financial services regulations. Cloud transcription creates compliance landmines that most users don't even realize they're navigating.

The On-Device Alternative: How Basil AI Protects Your Privacy

There's a better way: on-device AI transcription. Instead of sending your audio to the cloud, modern AI can run directly on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. This is exactly how Basil AI works:

100% On-Device Processing: Your audio never leaves your device. Not during recording, not during transcription, not ever.
Apple's Speech Recognition: We use Apple's industry-leading on-device AI, which processes everything locally using the Neural Engine in your device.
Zero Server Storage: Because nothing is uploaded, there's nothing to hack, leak, or subpoena.
Instant Deletion: When you delete a recording, it's truly gone. No cloud backups, no retained data.
GDPR Compliant by Design: Since data never leaves your device, there's no cross-border transfer or third-party processing.

How On-Device AI Actually Works

Modern smartphones and computers (especially Apple Silicon Macs and newer iPhones) contain powerful AI processors called Neural Engines. These dedicated chips can run sophisticated AI models locally, including:

Real-time speech recognition
Speaker diarization (identifying who's talking)
Natural language processing for summaries
Entity extraction (action items, dates, names)

This means you get all the intelligence of cloud AI—transcription, summaries, smart formatting—without any of the privacy risks. Your meetings stay private because they literally never touch the internet.

Comparing Cloud vs. On-Device: The Privacy Scorecard

Privacy Feature	Cloud Transcription (Otter, Fireflies)	On-Device AI (Basil)
Audio leaves your device	✗ Yes	✓ Never
Stored on company servers	✗ Yes	✓ No
Used to train AI models	✗ Often	✓ Never
Accessible to employees	✗ Potentially	✓ No
Subject to hacking	✗ Yes	✓ No
GDPR compliant by default	✗ Complex	✓ Yes
Works offline	✗ No	✓ Yes
True data deletion	✗ Uncertain	✓ Immediate

What You Can Do Right Now

If you're currently using cloud-based transcription services, here are steps you can take to protect your privacy:

Review Your Current Service's Privacy Policy: Understand exactly what happens to your data. Look for sections on data retention, third-party sharing, and AI training.
Delete Old Transcripts: Go through your account and delete any sensitive transcripts you no longer need. Don't assume they'll be automatically removed.
Consider On-Device Alternatives: Evaluate tools like Basil AI that process everything locally.
Check Your Compliance Requirements: If you handle regulated data (GDPR, HIPAA, financial), consult with your legal team about current tools.
Educate Your Team: Make sure everyone understands the privacy implications of the tools they're using for meeting notes.

For Sensitive Meetings: If you're discussing legal matters, personnel issues, M&A negotiations, or trade secrets, using cloud transcription is a serious risk. These conversations should never be uploaded to third-party servers.

The Future is Private AI

The Otter AI lawsuit is likely just the beginning. As more people become aware of how cloud AI services work, there will be increasing pressure for privacy-first alternatives. Apple has already shown the way with Apple Intelligence—their commitment to on-device AI processing. Other companies will follow.

The question is: will you wait for more lawsuits and privacy breaches, or will you switch to on-device AI now?

Conclusion: Your Data, Your Device, Your Choice

Cloud-based transcription services made AI-powered meeting notes accessible to everyone. But that convenience came at a hidden cost: your privacy. Every conversation you upload to the cloud is stored on someone else's computer, analyzed by their AI, and subject to their policies and security.

On-device AI offers a better path forward. With Basil AI, you get powerful transcription, smart summaries, and automatic organization—all while keeping your conversations 100% private. No servers, no uploads, no privacy compromises.

Because your most important meetings deserve better than being stored indefinitely in someone else's cloud.

Keep Your Meetings Private with Basil AI

100% on-device processing. No cloud. No data mining. No privacy risks.

Free to try • 3-day trial for Pro features