This new AI service wants to make your video call a little bit easier

By now, anyone with an office job is likely familiar with the experience of joining a video meeting only to wonder, a few minutes into it, if anyone on the call is taking notes. The popular AI transcription app Otter is launching a new service called OtterPilot that aspires to fill that role — it will automatically take notes, take key screengrabs, and write up a summary of your meeting. 

OtterPilot is currently being rolled out to users on all plans.

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Launched in 2016, Otter.ai offers automated transcription services that make note-taking effectively obsolete. Using proprietary AI, the app takes meeting notes in real time. Later, you can edit and share the notes. 

With the Otter Assistant service, you can connect Otter to your Microsoft or Google calendar and have the app automatically take and share notes in virtual meetings — even if you can’t join the meeting yourself. Meeting attendees can view the live transcript, add comments, highlight key points, or assign action items during the meeting.

The new OtterPilot service will now automatically capture images of slides or visuals shared during virtual meetings. The service also produces an AI-generated summary of key meeting topics. After the meeting, Otter can automatically send its meeting notes, the accompanying visuals, and the summary to all meeting attendees. The OtterPilot summaries and notes are sent via email, with hyperlinks to key moments and slide captures. 

Otter offers a range of plans, starting with its free Basic plan that comes with limits of 300 monthly transcription minutes and 30 minutes of transcription per conversation. It also offers Pro, Business and, Enterprise plans. More than one billion meetings have now been transcribed with Otter, the company said this week. 

In a statement, co-founder and CEO Sam Liang said he’s “inspired by advancements in Tesla’s Autopilot system” and that his company has similarly “seen the huge improvements in Otter’s AI capabilities.”