Now, you can stop Amazon employees from hearing Alexa conversations
If you use AI assistants (Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant), you probably know that the companies behind them hear your conversations. The effort is aimed at improving the detection and responsive abilities of these tools, but nobody likes being heard. Right? Well, realizing this issue, Amazon is adding a feature to keep your Alexa conversations private. Here's all about it.
Alexa conversations are heard by Amazon employees
Amazon has thousands of employees who analyze, transcribe, and annotate user recordings to improve Alexa's ability to understand and handle queries effectively. The conversations often include sensitive details like names, addresses, doctor appointments, and other confidential details. In fact, a Bloomberg report had even claimed company employees can pin down the exact location of users using this data and some easily available tools.
Now, there's a solution on offer
As many people don't like the idea of having their conversations heard by third-parties, Amazon is rolling a toggle to prevent the practice. The option, when turned off, would let you stop the e-commerce company from sending over your recorded voice conversations and/or recorded message transcripts for manual review. This would come really handy in alleviating some of the concerns revolving around Alexa detection.
Alexa can pick false positives at times
While most Alexa conversations are normal commands to trigger a skill or place an order, sometimes the smart assistant could pick a false positive. In such cases, it may take some other phrase or word you have said as the 'Alexa' wake word and start recording what you could be saying. The same goes for Siri and Google Assistant as well.
How to use the new opt-out toggle?
Now, if you are interested in keeping your Alexa recordings private, head over to the 'Alexa Privacy' section in your Alexa app's settings. Then, tap on 'Manage How Your Data Improves Alexa' and turn the toggle provided next to 'Help Improve Amazon Services and Develop New Features' off. Once you do this, your records won't be heard by Amazon employees anymore.
