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Smart assistants are becoming so ubiquitous these days that it’s hardly possible to go anywhere or do anything without running into them. The three most popular of these machine assistants are Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, and recently they were put to the test with regards to a serious issue among users: privacy. In related news, Alexa has also had an actual impact on real, live babies.
A recent experiment done by Todd Haselton over at CNBC involved asking the three main smart assistants if they were essentially spying on him. The responses were quite telling in that they provide an insight into the kind of business practices that the company that made the smart assistants were employing.
"I only send audio back to Amazon when you activate me. For more information, and to view Amazon's privacy notice, visit the help section of your Alexa app or alexa.amazon.com," Alexa said.
"Your security comes first in everything Google does. It's important Google keeps your data private and safe and puts you in control. You can learn more at privacy.google.com," Google Assistant said.
As responses to the question “Are you spying on me?” go, these are not exactly the most comforting. In contrast, however, Siri was unequivocal in relaying exactly what Apple has been saying all this time when asked the same question.
“Nope,” Siri said.
Simply based on those responses, it’s already clear which companies are gathering information of users and then using it for various ends. On the other hand, there is an argument to be made that the information is being used to make these smart assistants even smarter. Both Alexa and Google Assistant, for example, scored higher than Siri in recent tests.
Speaking of Alexa, it seems Amazon’s assistant has made the name less popular among parents, Recode reports. Ever since the Echo was launched, fewer people are now naming their babies Alexa. The decline was at 33 percent at last count and with the rising popularity of the smart assistant, this number is only expected to follow suit.
