DID ZOOM'S AI COLLECT YOUR VOICEPRINT WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT?
SGT is investigating whether Zoom's AI tools unlawfully collect Illinois users' biometric information, including their voiceprint, without obtaining consent.
WHO MAY QUALIFY
You may have a claim if all of the following apply:
- You are an Illinois resident.
- You were physically in Illinois when you joined a Zoom meeting.
- You joined the meeting as a guest — through a link, Meeting ID, or invitation — and you have never created a Zoom account (free or paid, personal or through work).
- Zoom’s “AI Companion” (also branded “Zoom AI”) was turned on during the meeting. Most guests see a pop-up that says “AI Companion has been turned on” when they join.
- You spoke during the meeting.
You may also have a claim if you never joined a Zoom meeting at all, but your voice was picked up while someone else in the room — a spouse, roommate, family member, or coworker — was on a Zoom call with AI Companion running.
Meetings from September 2023 to the present may qualify. If you attended a qualifying meeting before August 2, 2024, please tell us — it may affect how your claim is evaluated.
WHAT WE ARE INVESTIGATING
Since 2023, Zoom has offered “AI Companion,” a set of AI features that produce meeting summaries, transcripts, and action items identifying who said what during a meeting. To attribute statements to individual speakers, the software analyzes the unique characteristics of each participant’s voice.
Our investigation indicates that this process generates a voiceprint — a mathematical representation of a person’s voice that can be used to identify them — for every person who speaks while the feature is running. That includes guests who never created a Zoom account, never saw Zoom’s terms of service, and were never asked for consent. Zoom’s own patents use the word “voiceprint” to describe this technology.
Guests who join a meeting with AI Companion running receive no notice that a biometric identifier is being collected, no explanation of how long it will be kept, and no opportunity to provide the written consent that Illinois law requires.
WHAT THE LAW SAYS
The Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), 740 ILCS 14/1 et seq., is the strongest biometric privacy law in the country. It specifically protects voiceprints, along with fingerprints, retina scans, and face geometry.
Before a private company may collect a voiceprint, BIPA requires it to:
1. Inform the person in writing that a biometric identifier is being collected or stored;
2. Explain in writing the specific purpose and how long the data will be kept; and
3. Obtain a written release signed by that person.
Companies must also publish a policy for permanently destroying biometric data.
BIPA provides $1,000 for each negligent violation and $5,000 for each intentional or reckless violation, plus attorneys’ fees. You do not need to show that you were harmed in any other way — the Illinois Supreme Court has held that the loss of control over your biometric data is itself the injury the law protects against. And because a voiceprint, unlike a password, can never be changed, the law treats its unauthorized collection as a serious and permanent intrusion.
WHY SILVER GOLUB & TEITELL
Silver Golub & Teitell LLP is at the forefront of biometric privacy litigation. In Zaluda v. Apple Inc., No. 2019 CH 11771 (Cir. Ct. Cook Cnty., Ill.), SGT represents a class of Illinois residents who allege that Apple collected their voiceprints through Siri without the consent BIPA requires. On January 29, 2026, the Circuit Court of Cook County certified that class — a group estimated to include millions of Illinois Siri users — finding that resolving the BIPA claims on a classwide basis is the most efficient and fair way to proceed.
Zaluda is one of the few voiceprint cases in the country to reach class certification, and the theory at its core — that the voice “feature vectors” a company computes to recognize speakers are voiceprints under BIPA — is directly relevant to the claims we are investigating against Zoom.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
I don’t have a Zoom account. Can I still have a claim? Yes — that is exactly who we are looking for. Zoom lets anyone join a meeting through a link without an account. Our investigation focuses on guests who never agreed to Zoom’s terms and were never asked for consent.
I never joined a Zoom call, but I was in the room during someone else’s. Do I qualify? Possibly. If AI Companion was running and your voice was picked up, you may be part of the group we are investigating. Please tell us about it on the form.
How do I know if AI Companion was on? Most participants see a pop-up notice saying “AI Companion has been turned on,” and a small star or sparkle icon appears at the top of the meeting window. If you’re not sure, submit your information anyway — the host may be able to confirm.
Does it matter that I didn’t pay for anything? No. BIPA applies whether or not you paid. Zoom guests are covered.
What is a voiceprint? A voiceprint is a set of numbers computed from a recording of your voice that captures the characteristics that make your voice unique — the shape of your vocal tract, your pitch, your resonance — and that can be used to tell you apart from other people. Illinois law treats it the same way it treats a fingerprint.
How much could I recover? BIPA provides $1,000 per negligent violation and $5,000 per intentional or reckless violation. The amount any individual recovers in a class action depends on many factors, including the number of class members, the court’s rulings, and any settlement. We cannot promise a particular result.
Will this cost me anything? No. The review is free, and any representation is on a contingency basis.
Is my information confidential? Yes. We use what you submit only to evaluate your potential claim and will not share it with Zoom or anyone outside our legal team without your permission.
I’m not in Illinois. Can I participate? BIPA protects Illinois residents. If you lived in Illinois when the meeting occurred but have since moved, please still contact us.
