Alexa just press record
Websites use cookies to present personalized adverts to users based on their previous browsing history, so it makes perfect sense for these sorts of adverts to be presented. The obvious answer to this situation is that, prior to the dinner conversation, the couple had been looking and researching camping related articles and products online - even if they don’t remember doing so. One of the biggest theories you’ll find online regarding Alexa listening in revolves around digital adverts being presented to a user after they have had a conversation about a subject within earshot of their smart speakers.įor example, a couple has a discussion over dinner about what equipment they’ll need before their weekend camping trip and, lo and behold, the soon-to-be campers are bombarded with adverts on websites and social networks about tents, stoves and sleeping bags. What about adverts appearing after talking about certain products? all other audio passes through the device until the wake word is ‘caught’ and sent to Amazon’s secure cloud, where your request is reanalyzed to verify the wake word was spoken.” The good news is - despite what conspiracy theories exist - Amazon, nor Alexa is spying on you.Īmazon uses technology it calls ‘keyword spotting’ to listen out for your wake word, without actually listening out.Īmazon states that “Echo devices are designed by default to detect only the sound waves of your chosen wake word, and everything else is ignored. You can, of course, disable the microphone on your smart speaker and make it that you need to push a button to activate Alexa… but that’s not really the point of having a voice assistant on hand, is it? If your Echo speaker wasn’t always listening there’s no way it would hear your commands starting “Alexa” (or another word if you’ve changed the Alexa wake word). Or rather the microphone on your Alexa smart speaker is always active (by default, at least) and is constantly monitoring voices in your home in order to hear its wake word. The short answer is yes, Alexa is always listening to you. The patent included a diagram where two people have a phone conversation and were served afterwards with separate targeted advertisements.If you own an Alexa smart speaker, whether it's a cheap Echo Dot, a high-end Echo Studio or even a third-party Alexa speaker like the Sonos One, you may have wondered from time to time: “Is Alexa always listening to me?”
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#Alexa just press record series#
Recognising the improbability of this series of mishaps occuring, they added: “As unlikely as this string of events is, we are evaluating options to make this case even less likely.”Īlthough Amazon maintains this was a malfunction rather than proof Alexa is always listening, the company has filed patent applications in the past for functionalities that involve always listening, such as an algorithm that would analyse when people say they “love” or “bought” something. Alexa then asked out loud, ‘, right?’ Alexa then interpreted background conversation as ‘right’.”
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At which point, Alexa said out loud ‘To whom?’ At which point, the background conversation was interpreted as a name in the customer’s contact list. Then, the subsequent conversation was heard as a ‘send message’ request. “Echo woke up due to a word in background conversation sounding like ‘Alexa’. A spokesperson for the company said it had “determined this was an extremely rare occurrence”.Īt 6pm ET on Thursday, an Amazon spokesperson provided an updated statement with an explanation for why they believe Alexa forwarded the conversation. Immediately, I said, ‘I’m never plugging that device in again because I can’t trust it.’”Īn Amazon customer service representative confirmed that Danielle’s audio had been sent to the number and apologised but didn’t provide any information about why the device had been activated. She told KIRO-TV in Seattle that at first she didn’t believe the co-worker, but then she said: “You sat there talking about hardwood floors.” Danielle realised the colleague must have heard everything.