How to reign in your AI assistant

Smart speakers like Amazon Echo or Google Home have sold really well this holiday season and according to analytics company Voice Labs, cited by Forbes, 2017 will be the year of “voice-first”, as opposed to mobile first. But with millions of people getting used to having an AI-powered voice assistant in their homes, some experts say consumers need to be mindful of privacy and other issues.

Alexa (the AI inside Amazon’s Echo) and Google Assistant (which powers Google Home and the Pixel smartphones) are quickly becoming family members in many households, much like Apple’s Siri or Microsoft’s Cortana. Some experts and users are voicing privacy concerns: Alexa and Google Assistant are by default listening to everything being said around them, and some of the information they gather is passed on to servers to be processed.

The devices themselves are unable to understand much on their own. They will recognize activation words like “Alexa” or “OK Google”, which will prompt them to send whatever you say next over the internet to their cloud-based brains.

Voice files are sent in encrypted form, which should mean privacy snoopers shouldn’t be able to use Echo and Home as listening devices to spy on your family. However, some people are still worried due to reports of vulnerabilities found in various products that use encryption (such as this one about a a backdoor in WhatsApp’s method of end-to-end encryption).

Privacy is not the only concern when it comes to Alexa, which specifically aims to make shopping on Amazon as quick and easy as possible. The AI assistant recently misinterpreted a request from a six-year old and ordered an expensive dollhouse and four pounds of sugar cookies. Other Echo owners who watched a story about the unusual purchase on TV reported that their own devices made the same order upon hearing the broadcast.

We should note that Alexa is set to ask for confirmation before placing the order, which should normally protect you from accidental purchases (unless the assistant also misinterprets what it hears next as a go-ahead).

Both Echo and Google Home have a button that mutes the microphone, which you can press if you want to stop Alexa or Google Assistant from hearing you — but this kind of defies the purpose of the devices.

If you own and Echo and you wish to make sure it doesn’t buy something on your behalf by accident, you can also go to Settings and disable Voice Purchasing (here’s a detailed guide).

You can also see a history of your interactions with Alexa or Google Assistant. There’s a History section in the Alexa app with a list of your queries, while Google Home or Pixel users can look at what they’ve asked by going to myactivity.google.com.

You can also delete your queries in the Alexa app, but only one at a time. To delete everything at once, visit amazon.com/myx. Similarly, you can delete saved recordings on myactivity.google.com, where you can also disable voice recording for your Google Home device. See this article on wired.com to learn how to manage recordings for both devices.

Your smart home needs to be secured

Amazon Echo and Google Home are becoming hugely popular, but what about the other smart devices in your household? Game consoles, smart TVs, smart thermostats, surveillance systems, connected lightbulbs, you name it — more and more home gadgets and appliances have internet connectivity these days. Many of these devices can be vulnerable to cyberattacks, which is why smart home security is becoming an important aspect of any family’s digital life. Check out Bitdefender BOX, a smart device that secures your entire home network and keeps your devices safe from viruses and privacy intruders.