It seems like a bad time for all the companies that have a virtual assistant. Because something or the other has been revealed a day in and day out. First, it was revealed that Amazon’s Alexa is not as private as you might think.
Because Amazon has hired people who would listen to all the conversations that take place on its lineup of Echo devices. Now, this caused a major privacy concern for everyone and Amazon had to add a way to delete those conversations.
After that, Google Assistant was also caught in the act. It was found out that Google’s contractors are also listening to conversations made on its Google Home devices and Google said that it is because they want to improve voice recognition.
Now, a surprising new name has been added to this list which is Apple. Now, it has been claimed that even Apple’s Siri assistant is recording conversations and Apple Engineers are listening to them
However, this time the conversations regarding drug deals as well as bedroom talk between husband-wife is also recorded. Later, people at the Apple headquarter listen to these conversations. Now, it has to be noted that Apple also has a smart speaker powered by Siri which is known as the HomePod.
Apple, in a statement, regarding this issue said that “A small portion of Siri requests are analyzed to improve Siri and dictation. User requests are not associated with the user’s Apple ID. Siri’s responses are analyzed in secure facilities and all reviewers are under the obligation to adhere to Apple’s strict confidentiality requirements.“
Now, the Apple statement does say that these conversations will not be revealed. However, it also shows that the conversations are indeed being listened to by someone else. This is a surprise because Apple is known for its privacy and also accuses Google and Amazon for failing to give privacy to its users