Alexa Removing “Do Not Send Voice Recordings” Feature
You can opt out of sending voice recordings to the cloud for devices that can process the audio of your Alexa requests locally (Echo (4th Gen), Echo Show 10 or Echo Show 15) or supported devices that are able to communicate with the devices in your house on the same network (Echo (3rd Gen), Echo Dot (3rd Gen), Echo Dot (4th Gen), Echo Dot (4th Gen) with clock, Echo Dot (5th Gen), Echo Dot (5th Gen) with clock).
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Some Alexa features and capabilities such as Adaptive Listening, Live Translations, Dynamic Language Switching, and Reading Sidekick are unavailable when Do Not Send Voice Recordings is turned on.
Alexa will still send audio to the cloud for features that require the transmission of audio, such as when you make a call or send a message or announcement via Alexa. And, if you create a voice ID, the audio recordings used to teach Alexa your voice will be sent to the cloud. Alexa will also send audio to the cloud if you enable Alexa Guard, including for Smart Alerts and emergency calling with Alexa Emergency Assist.
I was not aware of this feature, but it turns out that my Echo Dot supports it. As far as I can tell, recent versions of Siri already do this on iPhone—HomePod presumably doesn’t have enough processing power—sending only transcripts of the text to Apple. An ongoing issue is that many of these requests seem like they could be processed locally but are instead sent to Apple.
Scharon Harding (Hacker News, Reddit, Slashdot):
Since Amazon announced plans for a generative AI version of Alexa, we were concerned about user privacy. With Alexa+ rolling out to Amazon Echo devices in the coming weeks, we’re getting a clearer view of the privacy concessions people will have to make to maximize usage of the AI voice assistant and avoid bricking functionality of already-purchased devices.
In an email sent to customers today, Amazon said that Echo users will no longer be able to set their devices to process Alexa requests locally and, therefore, avoid sending voice recordings to Amazon’s cloud. Amazon apparently sent the email to users with “Do Not Send Voice Recordings” enabled on their Echo. Starting on March 28, recordings of every command spoken to the Alexa living in Echo speakers and smart displays will automatically be sent to Amazon and processed in the cloud.
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Amazon is forcing Echo users to make a couple of tough decisions: Grant Amazon access to recordings of everything you say to Alexa or stop using an Echo; let Amazon save voice recordings and have employees listen to them or lose a feature set to become more advanced and central to the next generation of Alexa.
Amazon’s explanation for the change is rather disappointing. The main issue is apparently a more powerful Alexa Voice ID that can’t run locally, but I’m not sure that people really care about that.
Basically, the processing requests that rely on AI features can’t be done within the limited processing power of the Echo device itself. This means that voice recordings will be sent to and processed in the cloud.
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This change confirms existing fears about user privacy with the implementation of the generative AI version of Alexa. Due to financial losses that came with Alexa’s operation, Amazon introduced the AI-powered Alexa+ which has far more capabilities and should generate more cash-flow. Alexa+ is based on several major language models such as the in-house development Nova, and Claude from Anthropic.
Previously:
- Alexa Plus
- Bug Opted Users Back In to Sharing Siri Recordings
- The Disappointment of On-Device Siri
- iOS 15: On-Device Siri
- “Lack of Action” on Siri Recordings
- Opting Out of Sharing Siri Audio Recordings
- Apple Contractors “Regularly Hear Confidential Details” on Siri Recordings
- Amazon Employees Review “Small Sample” of Alexa Audio
- Amazon Sends Alexa Voice Recordings to a Random Person
- Amazon Echo Privacy
1 Comment RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
"Amazon is forcing Echo users to make a couple of tough decisions…"
Lol, not at all. They're making one easy decision: get rid of your union-busting Amazon devices.
