Please be advised that Amazon has staff monitoring queries made to Amazon Alexa-enabled Echo smart speakers in an attempt to improve product accuracy. Apparently, while the monitored recordings do not provide full names, they do connect to an account name, a user’s first name and the device serial number. According to Bloomberg, employees working in Costa Rica, India and Romania parse as many as 1,000 audio clips per shift. The recordings are transcribed, annotated and fed back into the software to help correct gaps in Alexa’s understanding of human speech and voice commands.
According to Amazon, unless Echo detects the default or custom wake word or is activated by the press of the button, no audio is stored. However, Alexa sometimes records absent a prompt, and reviewers are required to transcribe these recordings as well.
It is recommended that users review their Alexa privacy settings. To disable the use of voice recordings for the development of new features, go to the Alexa app and go to Alexa account=>Alexa privacy=>Manage how your data improves Alexa. Please note that Amazon has stated that users who opt-out may still have their recordings analyzed by hand in the review process.