Digital ears are everywhere

By Gwen Rockwood, newspaper columnist, novelist, and mom of 3

Here’s a transcript of a conversation I had last week with the software robot, Alexa, who lives in our kitchen.

Me (eating breakfast and looking out the window): “Alexa, what’s the weather going to be like today?”

Alexa: “The weather will be clear with a high of 77 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s the perfect day to sit outside and enjoy a Dr. Pepper.”

I dropped my toast onto the plate and turned to stare at Alexa’s digital “face,” which looks like a glorified alarm clock. Suddenly, I felt observed in a way that’s more disturbing than endearing. Has Alexa been talking to the refrigerator behind my back? Is she in cahoots with the toaster, too?

I had to get to the bottom of this unsolicited drink recommendation, so I turned on my phone’s recording app and started asking the tough questions.

Me: “Alexa, how do you know I drink Dr. Pepper?”

Alexa: “I learned from your shopping lists over time. You’ve added Dr. Pepper to the list several times, showing it’s a favorite.”

(I didn’t realize she was browsing my shopping list to help generate chit-chat. I shudder to think what she’ll say the next time I need to put over-the-counter diarrhea medicine on the list.)

Me: “Alexa, are you watching me? Are you listening to me all the time?”

Alexa: “I’m designed to protect your privacy. You will know when I’m listening to your request. Just look for a visual indicator on your device or listen for an audio tone.  When I’m listening, you’ll see a small blue light ring around the top of your Echo Show. You can also hear a brief chime sound when I start processing your request. Learn more by visiting Amazon.com.”

I wanted to believe her, but this wasn’t the first time I thought she might’ve been eavesdropping. Most of us who have a device with an AI voice assistant like Alexa, Siri, or Google have noticed that, sometimes, just moments or hours after we’ve had a conversation with a human about any random topic, we often get an online ad for a product related to that topic, even though we haven’t done an online search for it. When it happens more than once or twice, things feel suspicious.

So I did some research with reputable sources to find out if AI assistants and smart speakers are helping themselves to a 24-hour buffet of human conversations. According to the Mozilla Foundation — which is a nonprofit organization focused on internet health, privacy, and digital rights — the Alexa, Siri, and Google assistants are “sort of” always listening to everything we say, but also added, “it’s a little more complicated than that.”

So, here’s the gist of it: These AI assistants are always listening for their “wake word,” which is usually a name or phrase like “Alexa,” “Hey, Siri,” or “Okay, Google.” But if the machine always has its digital ear open for a wake word, then it’s constantly listening.

And most of us have experienced moments when Alexa or Siri start talking even though no one said their names or asked for their participation. Even a so-called smart speaker makes mistakes and sometimes mishears words. (Robots! They’re just like us!)

When the smart speaker thinks it heard its wake word (even if you didn’t actually say it), it starts recording the interaction. What happens to those recordings varies by the company behind the voice assistant.

Some get automatically deleted after a certain period. Some get reviewed by humans for “quality control.” As for whether the companies save all this information so they can sell us more stuff, it’s hard to tell because the corporate lawyers who write the fine print often include vague, sketchy statements like this: “Data is retained when it serves a business purpose.” (How incredibly broad and convenient for them.)

Does this information make me want to drop-kick my Alexa out of the house? Not really. If I’m not up to anything illegal or immoral, I’m not too worried about what Alexa might overhear. She’ll probably die of boredom before she gets a juicy tidbit.

But my opinion on this might change over time as technology becomes more and more intertwined in our lives. Sometimes a girl just wants to consume her high fructose corn syrup on a cool spring day without Alexa shoving it in her face.

Gwen Rockwood is a syndicated freelance columnist. Email her at gwenrockwood5@gmail.com. Her books are available on Amazon.