Last week, Amazon sent ‘NE post to select Echo users, and warned that they now have to agree to send their Alexa voting surveys to the company’s cloud for processing. The email was sent to users with the introduction of non -voice recordings, activated on their Echo speaker or a smart display, which ensures that their assignments are processed locally on the device; However, from March 28, this institution will no longer be available, and all surveys will be processed at Amazon Data Centers, the company confirmed to TechRepublic.

On the cut -off date, any echo that still enables this institution will automatically switch so as not to save recordings, which means that voice commands will be transferred to Amazon’s cloud for processing, but then scrapped. Any previously stored voice recordings will also be deleted, and Alexa’s voice – ID – a feature that recognizes individual users’ voices to give personalized answers – will be disabled.

In his email, Amazon said that the decision not to stop the voting recordings is to expand Alexa’s abilities with generative AI functions that rely on the processing power of Amazon’s safe cloud. “This indicates that Amazon collects more voice data to improve AI training and improve its smart speaker technology.

Genai and the pressure on more voting data

TechRepublic reached out to Amazon for confirmation, and a spokesman returned a statement from the kettle plate stating that the company “focuses on the privacy instruments and controls that our clients use most and works well with generative AI experiences.”

See: We to introduce Cyber ​​Trust Market to nominate Safe Smart Devices

This news comes just a few weeks after the unveiling of Alexa+an AI-powered version of Amazon’s digital assistant. Alexa+ will be introduced this month, Alexa+ will take data from the home cameras of a user, e -mail, personal calendars and more to provide intelligent answers.

The Amazon Devices division, which focuses on Alexa-powered hardware, has not been profitable over the past few years, and reportedly they lost $ 25 billion between 2017 and 2021, according to The Wall Street Journal. To compete with Apple’s Siri, Google’s Gemini and Chatgpt’s voting abilities, the key to Amazon’s long-term survival in the Smart Assistant Market can be key.

Amazon’s troubled history with privacy issues

The email sent to Echo users encrypted disabled voice recordings during transport, and that the Amazon cloud was “designed with low security protection to keep the customer information safe.” Given Amazon’s track record over the feedrand private, some users may be uncomfortable with the new settings.

In 2023, Amazon agreed to pay $ 25 million to civil fines for the indefinite period of the Alexa recordings of children, who violate the laws of the privacy of children. In the same year, Amazon’s ring was fined $ 5.8 million after an investigation was revealed that employees and contractors had unlimited access to customer private video.

Amazon also faced a setback to quietly store Alexa recordings until a US Senator Jeff Bezos publicly questioned the practice – five years after the first echo was released.

Before the change, the setting of non -voice recordings was not available to US users with an Echo Dot (4th Gen), Echo Show 10 of Echo Show 15 set in English. Despite affecting a limited number of users, those who are especially security conscious and their devices can only consider for basic use, offline activities as a privacy compromise after buying a product that they have aligned with their safety needs.