Here is the whole story I thought it was all already in the cloud, but I evicted all the echos from our home about three years ago after Amazon and their hunches decided what I really wanted was my bedroom lights on full brightness every morning at 0300.
In an email sent to customers today, Amazon said that Echo users will no longer be able to set their devices to process Alexa requests locally and, therefore, avoid sending voice recordings to Amazon’s cloud. Amazon apparently sent the email to users with “Do Not Send Voice Recordings," which is supported by the Echo (4th Gen), Echo Show 15, and Echo Show 10, enabled. Starting on March 28, recordings of every command spoken to the Alexa living in Echo speakers and smart displays will automatically be sent to Amazon and processed in the cloud.
I thought it already was. I mean, I really didn't expect any of these devices to have enough processing power on-board to do voice recognition.
How many requests can it really process locally anyhow? Setting a timer or alarm maybe? Even something as simple as asking the weather requires asking some server somewhere.
only a text of that request will be sent to the cloud. You can review and delete that transcript at any time in your Alexa voice history. The audio of the request is processed entirely on your device, then deleted.
So, only some devices, and all the text still went to Amazon, so literally only the speech was processed on-device. Not a dealbreaker for me. (Though I am trying to use Siri and HomePods more. I really wish they were better at doing what I want...)
Apple does for many of the commands, it varies from device to device on what they can handle locally. I had tested it a while back along with local device control via the Home app > Homebridge > Hubitat, by blocking my devices from the internet. Worked pretty well and just as it was stated in the article I was reading.
Kind of a click-bait title for that article, and this thread, IMO.
It’s not “everything you say.”
It’s “every time you wake the device, it will send your voice data to the cloud even though it used to be able to process a few things locally.”
Still a major privacy concern, but the title as-written is probably playing on people’s fears that an Echo is literally always listening and sending your voice data to the cloud.
Just had this conversation with my wife, a few minutes ago. We quickly agreed on a plan: ALL Amazon devices evicted from our household. If I had a big pavement roller, we'd have a party crushing them. Way to sell out your customers, Amazon. Plan to explore voice assistant from Home Assistant and will be searching for alternative shopping options as well. Pissed.
I believe the change in privacy is directly related to AI development. Google is trying to figure out what people say "DIRECTLY TO ALEXA". For example, when you no longer want your lights illuminated do you say ""Alexa, turn off the lights"; "Alexa, turn out the lights"; "Alexa, extinguish the lights"; or "Alexa, I no longer wish the lights to be iluminated"; or any other possible terms that human intelligence might interpret, but Alexa might not. When Alexa was new, you had to say "Alexa, turn off the lights". If you said "Alexa, turn out the lights" she would not recognize the command. Over time, the variant was recognized. In order for users to be able to carry on an intellegent conversation with Alexa using AI, Amazon has to collect lots of data concerning the things we say to Alexa. Local storage of data will not suffice.
People say they worry about privacy, but it reality, nearly everything we say or do is tracked by someone somewhere. I just started using a CPAP for sleep apnea. Now every breath I take in the bed is tracked and recorded via cellular Internet.
I suppose if you were to ask Alexa how to attack the White House one might have a concern, but for me having her add something to my shopping list or to turn off the lights, personally I could care less that it’s processed and stored in the cloud. You still need to wake her up…
Same for using maps and geo on my phone.
As I have stated elsewhere, I find that the Voice Control/Voice Notification abilities of Alexa/Google are unparalleled, and inexpensive to boot. I thought that there is no other alternative to their dominance with this functionality, although some have suggested getting Apple Homepods. (We don't really want to go this route.)
Has anyone tried to use the new "Home Assistant Voice" and brought those commands back to Hubitat? Does that work? Does Voice Notification work from Hubitat to that device?
I had one before the USB-C port apparently broke and stopped powering it, but keep in mind it was called "Preview," and if you Google do a web search for some reviews, you'll find lots of reasons why. (But yes, if you had a Hubitat device shared with HASS, say via the custom integration that uses Maker API on the hub side, and used Voice to control that device on HASS, there's no reason it shouldn't work ... if it hears you and knows what you want.)
That being said, as awkward as Siri and HomePods have been for me sometimes, device control is mostly not one of those things -- that works well enough and is local enough for me, personally. But I have to agree that Alexa is normally quite good, other concerns be darned. I might try Voice again in the future but am not in a hurry to replace mine at the moment...
Same here. I am not going to worry about this, just like I did not worry about Philips Hue requiring a cloud account for the Hue bridge. People getting spun up - is exactly what these attention-grabbing headlines are designed to do. Educate yourselves, but do not overreact and start destroying devices based on a headline.
Since the release of the first Amazon Echo back in 2014, everyone has been sending this voice data to the Amazon cloud. It was not until the release of the Echo (4th Gen), Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen), or Echo Show 15 that the option for any significant local voice processing became available. All Echo dots send the data to the cloud to be processed already, unless a Echo (4th Gen) or Echo Show 15 are on the same local network and have the feature to not send voice data to the cloud enabled.
Plus, if you've linked all of your smart home devices to the Amazon Alexa platform, you have already handed over not only data/information about your smart home - but you've actually handed over the ability to control your smart home.
Let's not forget the fact that Google collects tons of data from Android phones. They are not doing this to help the end-user. They do it to help their business direct targeted advertising to their users. Amazon is no different in this regard.
Frankly, I'm surprised anyone uses these things in their home. Every time I've tried any of them, it reminds me of trying to speak to Dragon Dictate in the 90's. And the privacy risks are astonishingly bad in my view. If it's not local, it's not safe. If you had to use one of these things and Home Assistant doesn't do it...well as much as it pains me to say it, Apple might be the best choice.
If the title is true, would be interesting if Echo owners all started spamming their devices with numerous and meaningless requests.... Maybe ask "Why is Google Assistant better than Amazon Echo?"....
Here's a test: I'm going to start talking about skiing and a ski trip. I never go skiing. Let's see how long it takes for ski-related ads to show up. Go!
(Though I am trying to use Siri and HomePods more. I really wish they were better at doing what I want...)
(But yes, if you had a Hubitat device shared with HASS, say via the custom integration that uses Maker API on the hub side, and used Voice to control that device on HASS, there's no reason it shouldn't work ... if it hears you and knows what you want.)
