Disclosure up front: I make Tapefolio, a Mac transcription app, and it gets one paragraph near the end. The university statements below are paraphrased from each university's own page, which I read on October 16, 2026. Follow the links to check them, since these pages change. Nothing here is legal advice.
The short answer
It depends on your institution and your IRB approval, not on what any tool says about itself. Several universities have published guidance that restricts Otter.ai or does not approve it for general use, so check your own university's list of approved tools and your approved protocol before you record.
What universities have published
These are the three pages I read first-hand. Each one covers its own campus only.
| Institution | Status of Otter.ai | What it points to instead | Page date |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Utah | Named as an example of an unapproved transcription tool, with Fireflies.ai | Microsoft Teams Premium and Zoom AI Companion | September 22, 2025 |
| Ohio State University | IT news item on a class action; asks faculty and staff to make an informed decision about continuing to use it | Microsoft Teams and CarmenZoom | August 22, 2025 |
| Teachers College, Columbia | "Reviewed but Not Approved for General Use" | A more accessible application approved at the college (none named) | No date given |
University of Utah
The university's AI site published transcription tool guidance on September 22, 2025. It names Otter.ai and Fireflies.ai as examples of unapproved tools and says Microsoft Teams Premium and Zoom AI Companion have been vetted by the university for compliance and security. Its reasons: recordings and transcripts may be subject to public records requests and may contain regulated data such as student or patient information; unapproved tools give the university no control over retention or deletion; and such tools may not ask attendees for permission to record, and the recordings may be used to train AI models. The page is about meetings in general. It does not address research interviews or IRB review.
Ohio State University
Ohio State's IT news site posted an item on August 22, 2025, about a class action filed against Otter.ai. As the item describes it, the suit alleges that Otter.ai recorded and processed private meeting conversations without lawful authorization, used the recordings to train its machine learning models, and did not adequately notify participants or get their permission. These are allegations in a lawsuit, not findings. The item asks faculty and staff to make an informed decision about continuing to use Otter.ai and to use the university's approved tools, Microsoft Teams and CarmenZoom, which tell attendees when a meeting is being recorded.
Teachers College, Columbia University
The college's Digital Futures Institute has a page for Otter.ai that lists it as reviewed but not approved for general use. The college holds Otter Business licences only for disability-related accommodations, arranged through its Office of Access and Services for Individuals with Disabilities. The page says significant issues were found that could affect a user's ability to use the product, without saying what they are, and recommends finding a more accessible application approved at the college. It gives no review date.
None of these pages is a decision about a particular study. If your university has no published guidance, that does not mean a tool is approved. Ask.
What to ask your IRB before choosing any tool
These questions apply to Otter.ai and to every other transcription tool, including the ones that run on your own computer.
- Where is the audio processed? On your computer, on servers your university has a contract for, or on a vendor's servers with no university agreement.
- Can the vendor use the recordings to train its models? Read the vendor's current terms, and ask whether your university's contract, if there is one, changes them.
- How long is the audio kept, and who can delete it? Your data management plan may set a retention period that a tool's defaults do not match.
- Does your consent form name the tool or describe where recordings go? If you switch tools after approval, ask whether that needs an amendment.
- Does your university require a licensed tool? Some, like Utah and Ohio State above, point staff to specific licensed services.
- Will the tool join or record meetings on its own? Participants may need to know before a recording starts.
Your options, by where the file goes
- Your university's licensed Zoom or Teams transcription. The audio goes to the cloud, but under a contract your university has signed. This is what Utah and Ohio State point to.
- Cloud transcription services. Otter, Rev, Descript and others upload the audio to their servers. Prices and features are in the Mac transcription apps comparison.
- Apps that run on your computer. Buzz is free and open source (MIT license) and transcribes offline. MacWhisper has a free tier and a Pro version for €64 once; it can also be pointed at cloud models with your own API keys, so check its settings. Details and sources are in the same comparison.
If your university's Zoom or Teams already produced a transcript, the free transcript cleaner tidies the VTT file in your browser.
What running on your computer does not do
Keeping the audio on your computer removes one question from the list above, where the file goes. It does not make a study compliant. That is for you and your ethics board to decide, and the board may still have rules about storage, encryption, consent and who can listen to the recordings.
Where Tapefolio fits
I make Tapefolio, a Mac app for transcribing interviews on the Mac. Transcription, speaker labels and identifier removal run on the Mac, and nothing from your files is uploaded. It gives the time of every word, labels speakers, and can replace names, places, emails, phone numbers and other identifiers with codes, with the key file kept separately. It misses some identifiers and will mishear words and mislabel speakers, so every transcript needs a read. It does not anonymize a transcript or make a study compliant. It needs macOS 26 or later on a Mac with Apple silicon, and costs $29.99 once after a free 7-day trial, with no account.