Just realized my smart speaker listened to 47 private conversations this week alone

I pulled my voice history from my Amazon account yesterday after a friend joked about their ads being too specific. Scrolled through and counted 47 recordings from the last 7 days where it clearly picked up stuff I was saying to my partner or on the phone, not commands. Some of them were just me humming or coughing. How is this still allowed when they say it only listens for the wake word? Has anyone else checked their logs and felt weird about it?

2 comments

2 Comments

holly_henderson861mo ago

I mean are they really listening if nobody's actually hearing them though

eric_murray261mo ago

Wait but isn't that kinda the point though? Listening doesn't always mean someone has to respond or acknowledge you. Sometimes people just need to vent and the other person just needs to be present. I see this with my buddy Mike - he'll call me to complain about his boss and half the time I just grunt or say "yeah that sucks" and he's happy. If I started giving advice or repeating everything back to him he'd probably get annoyed. Being heard isn't always about getting a response, it's about having space to say your piece without being judged or interrupted.