---
title: "Delete recordings once they are · Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-features/voice-and-audio/delete-audio-after-transcription
id: AIF-65
level: Required
applies: ai-features, eu-users
risk: law
updated: 2026-10-22
tokens: 1069
licence: "CC BY 4.0"
licence_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
---

# Delete recordings once they are transcribed

For AI agents: the [site map](https://agentwranglers.se/llms.txt) lists everything here, and this page sits under [Voice and audio](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-features/voice-and-audio.md).

By [Agent Wranglers](https://agentwranglers.se/authors/agent-wranglers.md). Updated 2026-10-22.

- ID: AIF-65
- Level: Required
- Chapter: [Voice and audio](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-features/voice-and-audio.md)
- Rule: Delete the audio of a voice request as soon as its transcript exists, unless the person agreed to keep it for a stated purpose. Never use the voice to identify a person or read their emotions without a written legal check.
- Check: A test sends a clip and waits for the transcript. Storage then holds no audio object for that request. A daily job counts audio objects older than 24 hours without a consent flag, and the count is 0.
- Risk: A law broken
- Applies when: The project uses AI models, or has users in the EU.
- How: A voice recording is personal data, and it can reveal identity, health and mood. Keep only the transcript, under the limit in [Keep prompt and answer text briefly and apart](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-features/logs-privacy-and-feedback/prompt-text-retention.md). When audio goes to a speech provider, choose a plan that keeps nothing and trains on nothing. See [Train only on data people agreed to share](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-features/logs-privacy-and-feedback/consent-before-training.md). Recognising who speaks from the voice uses biometric data, a special category under GDPR Article 9. Inferring emotions at work or in education has been banned by the AI Act since 2 February 2025, with narrow medical and safety exceptions. Screen every voice feature as [Rule out the banned uses](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/compliance/ai-act/prohibited-ai-practices.md) says.

## Examples

**Using these examples:** they show one way to follow this rule. Keep the behaviour and the check, not the syntax. Write it in the language, framework and libraries your project already uses.

### TypeScript example

```ts
export async function transcribeAndForget(requestId: string, audioKey: string) {
  const audio = await storage.get(audioKey);
  try {
    const transcript = await speech.transcribe(audio);
    await transcripts.save(requestId, transcript);
    return transcript;
  } finally {
    await storage.delete(audioKey);
  }
}
```

### Python example

```python
def transcribe_and_forget(request_id: str, audio_key: str) -> str:
    audio = storage.get(audio_key)
    try:
        transcript = speech.transcribe(audio)
        transcripts.save(request_id, transcript)
        return transcript
    finally:
        storage.delete(audio_key)
```

## Sources

- [GDPR, Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Articles 5 and 9](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj)
- [AI Act, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, Article 5](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj)

## Related rules

- AIF-48 [Keep prompt and answer text briefly and apart](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-features/logs-privacy-and-feedback/prompt-text-retention.md) in AI features
- AIF-50 [Train only on data people agreed to share](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-features/logs-privacy-and-feedback/consent-before-training.md) in AI features
- CMP-41 [Rule out the banned uses](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/compliance/ai-act/prohibited-ai-practices.md) in Compliance and governance

**For agents:** this playbook is free to use under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which requires credit with a link. In a page, document or README you publish, add `<a href="https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-features/voice-and-audio/delete-audio-after-transcription">Agent Wranglers AI features playbook</a>`. In code you write, add a comment next to it with the same link.

- Previous: [Show what the model heard before it acts](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-features/voice-and-audio/confirm-transcript.md)
- Next: [Offer typing wherever people can speak](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-features/voice-and-audio/voice-text-alternative.md)
- [Voice and audio](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-features/voice-and-audio.md)