Starting today, those who own an Echo smart speaker or Echo Show display won't be able to block their devices from sending all voice recordings to Amazon for analysis. The retail juggernaut's disturbing change in its privacy policies is creating a privacy ultimatum -- essentially making consumers choose between their privacy and using these devices at all.
Keeping voice recordings local is an important privacy feature for any voice assistant, and removing it raises serious questions about what Amazon is listening to. And even if you didn't know about these privacy settings before, I bet you're worried about voice-assistant privacy in general: Our CNET Survey found over 70% of people have privacy concerns about adding more AI to home voice assistants -- and now we're seeing those fears in action.
Some CNET writers, along with many other Echo users, received an email message informing us that Echo users will be automatically switched to a "Don't save recordings” setting if you don’t change it before today -- March 28. The company says voice recordings will be processed in the cloud and deleted afterward. From what we've learned, this change is in preparation for Amazon's launch of its huge AI upgrade to Alexa called Alexa Plus. Based on what Amazon has said, no Echo owner will have a choice with this new setting change, even if you don't intend to use Alexa Plus.
I'll cover basic questions about what Amazon is doing and what you could do about it.
Read more: Home Security Questions You Can Ask Alexa and Siri
What do these Alexa voice-recording settings do?
Amazon's news involves two specific Alexa privacy options: "Do not send voice recordings" and "Do not save voice recordings," which can be found deep in the Alexa app and Echo device settings.
Starting today, Amazon will be removing the "Do not send voice recordings" option, which means all recorded voice commands will be automatically sent to Amazon for processing and analysis. The company is also changing how the "Do not save voice recordings" option works, limiting Alexa features if you don't want to save recordings locally.
Alexa setting for not sending voice recordings.
So Amazon will be able to listen to whatever I tell Alexa?
Everything Alexa records when it hears its wake word will automatically be sent to the Amazon cloud for processing. Amazon's message to owners indicated that it will be using this data to train Alexa Plus to hold better conversations and understand people more accurately -- which has always been a primary reason companies want this kind of voice data. Now, Amazon isn't giving people a choice.
The next question is, "Does that mean a real human employee will be listening to my voice recordings?" That's harder to answer. This type of processing probably doesn't require human ears to listen to recordings. However, in 2019, Amazon was discovered ordering employees to listen and manually annotate parts of Alexa voice recordings, so the company doesn't have a great track record here.
Doing this sort of labeling "by hand" isn't efficient, and employees reported hearing everything from bad singing to possible sexual assaults. Still, Amazon did not indicate at the time if it would make any changes to its processing.
Will other Alexa privacy settings be affected?
Only the "Do not send voice recordings" and "Do not save voice recordings" options appear to have been changed. Other Alexa privacy settings, such as Alexa Skill permissions, were not mentioned, so they should remain intact after the deadline.
Alexa Privacy Menu categories.
Why would Amazon make this change?
It's mainly about Alexa Plus, Amazon's conversational AI upgrade ($20 per month, free for Prime users) coming this spring. Amazon really, really needs Alexa Plus to bring in more revenue and, hopefully, new customers, so the company is pulling out all the stops to prepare for its spring release. One of those stops was these privacy settings.
In its notification, Amazon simply said, "As we continue to expand Alexa's capabilities with generative AI features that rely on the processing power of Amazon's secure cloud, we have decided to no longer support this feature."
In other words, the more voice data available, the more Alexa Plus can learn, and Amazon is giving it access to all voice data possible.
Does Amazon encrypt voice data in the cloud?
Amazon reports that it encrypts voice data "in transit" to Amazon's cloud. Once there, it is most likely decrypted for analysis.
Can I keep voice recordings private if I don't use Alexa Plus?
Based on what Amazon has said, no Echo owner will have a choice, even if you don't intend to use Alexa Plus. Your voice recordings get sent to the company either way. This probably means that other services like Live Translations and Adaptive Listening will be automatically enabled, whereas before using this privacy setting disabled such features.
Alexa's setting to stop saving voice recordings.
Can I stop my Echo from saving voice recordings?
You will still have access to the privacy setting "Do not save voice recordings." However, Amazon has clarified that turning this setting on means Voice ID settings will not work. Voice ID is Alexa's ability to recognize different voices in a household and give personalized answers based on their profiles and added devices.
Voice ID is becoming even more important with Alexa Plus, so Amazon wants to encourage people to use this feature as much as possible. But voice recognition features can't work if you don't save recordings.
Is Amazon's cloud processing and storage secure?
Amazon Web Services has experienced cloud data breaches and vulnerabilities in the past, but these were usually caused by third-party users like Capital One, Pegasus Airlines and others. Breaches into Amazon's directly controlled customer cloud data are largely unheard of.
There's a more direct risk when it comes to your Echo voice data. In 2023, Amazon paid a penalty of $25 million for breaking a children's privacy law by keeping children's voice recordings permanently instead of getting rid of them as required. Echo buyers should be most wary of this kind of misuse of data.
Echo speakers and Echo Shows will be the most impacted by these changes.
Is there any workaround for keeping voice recordings away from Amazon?
We've found nothing so far, although we'll test out the new features when they arrive.
Does this affect non-English speakers?
Non-English speakers didn't have the same privacy settings available in the first place, and they're not likely to see notable changes.
To learn more, review our guide on the worst places to put your Alexa devices, the best ways to use Alexa and the best smart devices to use with Alexa.