# What Cisco AI voice features retain of call audio and transcripts

Canonical: https://warmtransfer.net/knowledge/cisco-ai-audio-retention

Last verified: 2026-09-05

WarmTransfer's reading of the sources is that Cisco publishes retention periods for call transcripts, summaries, and recordings across product documentation rather than within its transparency notes[^3][^11]. Specific retention limits vary by feature, ranging from 24 hours for transfer summaries to 365 days for post-call transcripts and summaries[^7][^8].

## Customer Assist retention limits

Webex retains Customer Assist queue recordings for 360 days by default[^5]. Post-call summaries, action items, and transcripts are stored for 365 days[^8]. Summaries shared on a transferred or conference call are stored for 24 hours and then deleted[^7]. Customer Assist recording does not cover consults or transfers, so the 360 day queue recording retention never applies to transferred call audio[^2].

## AI Receptionist retention limits

AI Receptionist transcripts are available for up to 90 days[^1]. The AI Receptionist product article states that the default caller-facing message includes information about call transcript retention and never prints the period that message states[^10]. No source states how long AI Receptionist call audio is retained; the product article names a recordings capability and the only link to the section governing it does not resolve within the article[^6].

## Transparency note documentation

The 3 Cisco AI voice transparency notes read for this topic publish no retention period for call audio, transcripts, or derived artefacts between them[^11]. WarmTransfer's reading of the sources is that every retention figure the corpus holds for a Cisco AI voice feature comes from product documentation, and none comes from a transparency note[^3].

Sources disagree on in-house transcription audio retention, as 2 adjacent sentences in Cisco's in-house transcription note assert and then deny that Cisco retains audio[^4]. In addition, WarmTransfer's reading of the sources is that whether call content is used to improve a model is answered differently depending on which Cisco feature transcribes the call[^9].

## See also

- [Webex Calling AI Receptionist](https://warmtransfer.net/knowledge/webex-calling-ai-receptionist)
- [Retention of AI Receptionist call audio](https://warmtransfer.net/knowledge/cisco-ai-receptionist-audio)
- [What a transferred call leaves behind across Cisco products](https://warmtransfer.net/knowledge/webex-transfer-artefacts)
- [Cisco AI transparency technical notes](https://warmtransfer.net/knowledge/webex-ai-transparency-notes)
- [Webex Calling Customer Assist as a product](https://warmtransfer.net/knowledge/webex-calling-customer-assist)
- [Webex Contact Center recording and contact data retention](https://warmtransfer.net/knowledge/webex-cc-recording-retention)

## Applicability

Applies to: Cisco AI features, Cisco Webex Calling Customer Assist, and Cisco Webex Calling AI Receptionist. Deployments: cloud. Sources checked 2026-09-05.

## What remains uncertain

- Whether the Calling offer disclosure agrees with these 4 figures is not covered by the sources below.
- Where Customer Assist recordings are stored is not covered by the sources below.
- Which retention belongs to Cisco and which to a model vendor is not covered by the sources below.
- The AI Receptionist recordings section the broken link points at is not covered by the sources below.
- How long AI Receptionist call audio is retained is unstated in the source material[^6].
- The retention period the caller-facing message states is not covered by the sources below.
- Sources disagree on whether Cisco retains audio for in-house transcription[^4].
- What else a transferred call leaves behind is not covered by the sources below.

## Sources

[^1]: AI Receptionist transcripts are available for up to 90 days. Source: [AI Receptionist in Webex Calling](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/4chov0/AI-Receptionist-in-Webex-Calling), language support section. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^2]: Customer Assist recording does not cover consults or transfers, so the 360 day queue recording retention never applies to transferred call audio. Source: [Webex Calling Customer Assist](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/72sb3r/Webex-Calling-Customer-Assist), recording limitations. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^3]: Every retention figure the corpus holds for a Cisco AI voice feature comes from product documentation, and none comes from a transparency note (inferred). Source: [Webex Calling Customer Assist](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/72sb3r/Webex-Calling-Customer-Assist), four figures across two help articles compared with three transparency notes. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^4]: Two adjacent sentences in Cisco's in-house transcription note assert and then deny that Cisco retains audio (disputed). Source: [In-House Transcription - AI Transparency Technical Note](https://trustportal.cisco.com/c/dam/r/ctp/docs/white-paper/collaboration/ai-transparency-in-house-transcription-technical-note.pdf), retention passage. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^5]: Webex retains Customer Assist queue recordings for 360 days by default. Source: [Webex Calling Customer Assist](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/72sb3r/Webex-Calling-Customer-Assist), Retention policy and storage. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^6]: No source states how long AI Receptionist call audio is retained; the product article names a recordings capability and the only link to the section governing it does not resolve within the article. Source: [AI Receptionist in Webex Calling](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/4chov0/AI-Receptionist-in-Webex-Calling), recordings capability and its intra-page link. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^7]: Summaries shared on a transferred or conference call are stored for 24 hours and then deleted. Source: [Webex Calling Customer Assist](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/72sb3r/Webex-Calling-Customer-Assist), Limitations and privacy notes. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^8]: Post-call summaries, action items and transcripts are stored for 365 days. Source: [Webex Calling Customer Assist](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/72sb3r/Webex-Calling-Customer-Assist), Limitations and privacy notes. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^9]: Whether call content is used to improve a model is answered differently depending on which Cisco feature transcribes the call (inferred). Source: [Cisco AI Assistant Calling AI Transparency Technical Note](https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/r/ctp/docs/transparency/cisco-calling-ai-assistant-ai-transparency-technical-note.pdf), training statements compared across three notes. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^10]: The AI Receptionist product article states that the default caller-facing message includes information about call transcript retention and never prints the period that message states. Source: [AI Receptionist in Webex Calling](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/4chov0/AI-Receptionist-in-Webex-Calling), default message description. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^11]: The three Cisco AI voice transparency notes read for this topic publish no retention period for call audio, transcripts or derived artefacts between them. Source: [Cisco Webex Calling AI Receptionist - AI Transparency Note](https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/r/ctp/docs/transparency/webex-calling-ai-receptionist-ai-transparency-note.pdf), whole documents. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^12]: The Record activity's own documentation states that the recorded file is unencrypted and warns against recording anything sensitive. Source: [Build and manage flows with Flow Designer](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/nhovcy4/Build-and-manage-flows-with-Flow-Designer), Record activity. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^13]: A recorded utterance can leave the platform through the HTTP Request activity, because the Record activity produces a file reference that a later activity can send outward (inferred). Source: [Build and manage flows with Flow Designer](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/nhovcy4/Build-and-manage-flows-with-Flow-Designer), Record and HTTP Request activities read together. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^14]: A Recording Control activity uses a Boolean flow variable that overrides the recording policy set at tenant, queue and schedule level, in both directions. Source: [Build and manage flows with Flow Designer](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/nhovcy4/Build-and-manage-flows-with-Flow-Designer), Recording Control activity. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^15]: The Start Media Stream activity streams live caller and agent voice media out of the call, and the article states no destination, protocol, authentication, encryption or payload description for it. Source: [Build and manage flows with Flow Designer](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/nhovcy4/Build-and-manage-flows-with-Flow-Designer), Activities in Voice > Start Media Stream, complete section. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^16]: The Start Media Stream activity appears in Flow Designer's self-loop limit table with a limit of 20, so the platform documents the activity's existence even though the activity's own section omits its destination, protocol, authentication, encryption and payload details. Source: [Build and manage flows with Flow Designer](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/nhovcy4/Build-and-manage-flows-with-Flow-Designer), Activities in Voice > Start Media Stream, complete section. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^17]: The article announces that both virtual agent activities return a transcript URL and publishes no lifetime, authentication model or hosting location for it. Source: [Build and manage flows with Flow Designer](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/nhovcy4/Build-and-manage-flows-with-Flow-Designer), Virtual Agent steps 5 and 6; Configure Virtual Agent V2 activity steps 9 and 11. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^18]: Webex-provider recordings in Webex Calling are configured with a retention period of 1 year and 100 GB of storage per organisation, while the free Dubber Go tier stores each recording for 30 days. Source: [Manage call recording for Webex Calling](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/ilga4/Manage-call-recording-for-Webex-Calling), Overview, provider paragraphs. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^19]: The article states no retention period, storage location or deletion behaviour for streamed media or anything derived from it, and no authentication, authorisation or encryption property for the stream. Source: [Enabling media streaming for specific queues](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/n5jhgdi/Enabling-media-streaming-for-specific-queues), Whole article. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^20]: No source states what the AI summary is generated from, and none states what deleting a recording does to its transcript or summary. Source: [Play a Webex call recording with a transcript and AI-generated summary](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/ncqgl2y/Play-a-Webex-call-recording-with-a-transcript-and-AI-generated-summary), Whole article; the delete procedure ends at the delete action. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^21]: AI Receptionist call transcripts are available for up to 90 days, only to full administrators, and only for troubleshooting. Source: [AI Receptionist in Webex Calling](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/4chov0/AI-Receptionist-in-Webex-Calling), Language support section, closing note. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^22]: Customer Assist retains queue recordings for 360 days by default and stores post-call summaries, action items and transcripts for 365 days. Source: [Webex Calling Customer Assist](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/72sb3r/Webex-Calling-Customer-Assist), Manage queue recordings > Retention policy and storage; Limitations and privacy notes, bullet 4. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^23]: The Customer Assist article does not state an administrator-configurable range for the 360-day default retention period on queue recordings. Source: [Webex Calling Customer Assist](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/72sb3r/Webex-Calling-Customer-Assist), Manage queue recordings > Retention policy and storage; Limitations and privacy notes, bullet 4. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^24]: Shared summaries for transferred or conference calls in Customer Assist are stored for 24 hours and then deleted. Source: [Webex Calling Customer Assist](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/72sb3r/Webex-Calling-Customer-Assist), Use Cisco AI Assistant with Customer Assist > Limitations and privacy notes, bullet 5. Checked 2026-09-05.
[^25]: A transferred or conference call in Customer Assist also leaves a separate post-call summary retained for 365 days, on a different clock from the 24-hour shared summary. Source: [Webex Calling Customer Assist](https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/72sb3r/Webex-Calling-Customer-Assist), Use Cisco AI Assistant with Customer Assist > Limitations and privacy notes, bullet 5. Checked 2026-09-05.