Hey Alexa...? Is Privacy really Private?

Technology has been an incredible tool for hundreds of years - from stone and wood to cables and wires. It has been on our side through wars, celebrations, elections, and much more. Who would have thought that something manmade would turn against man as fast and as strong as it did? In case you haven't realized yet - privacy is not private anymore.

One of the recent technological innovations that has taken over the world is Amazon Alexa. Released by Amazon in 2014, Alexa is an artificial intelligence virtual assistant that can provide answers to almost any question you could ask. This technology was first developed to be the voice in the Amazon Echo smart speaker but soon became knowledgable and technical enough to control home automated systems, complete scheduled 'skills', or search the Internet to provide more accurate answers to consumers' questions. Alexa can now be utilized at home, in businesses, at conferences, and basically anywhere else with the proper internet connection. Amazon Alexa has inspired other companies to create their own smart devices through artificial intelligence, such as LG, Jargon, and Apple. 

With this innovation, Amazon made many daily activities so much easier for consumers. It was definitely a hit in America as lazy Americans could lay on the couch and ask a question instead of getting up and researching on the Internet. Alexa can track grocery lists, plan schedules, announce the weather, answer questions, and play all kinds of music. All of these capabilities are amazing, but how does this artificially intelligent machine connect the dots between your interests? 

Amazon Alexa, just like other social media technologies such as Facebook or Instagram, uses an algorithm to find out which advertisements and brands would be best for each specific consumer. From a public relations perspective, that is an incredible marketing tool, however, from a consumer perspective, that is incredibly terrifying. Not only can Alexa track searches, but she also never stops listening. As long as the device Alexa is on is plugged in, it continues listening to all commotion and conversation going on in its proximity - even if you aren't directly speaking to it through alert words like "Alexa" or "Amazon". Private conversations in private households or private businesses are not private after all. Anytime it listens, Alexa completes a keyword search to pick out specific websites, brands, songs, and other data that would attract that specific consumer. So, the next time you talk to your brother or sister about where you want to have dinner and an advertisement for that restaurant comes on your Spotify, Pandora, or Apple Music, think about the last time you unplugged crazy Alexa!

As an owner of an Amazon Alexa, I can definitely attest to how useful this technology is, however, after watching the Ted talks on privacy, my fear of the artificial intelligence has doubled. My mom never wanted one in our house, but it has almost become a necessity due to to the ease of accessing music, asking questions while multitasking, or detecting what package has been delivered. Unfortunately, I don't think my family could live without it. We do unplug our Amazon Echo dot once in a while, but we've really tried to push our loss of privacy to the back of our minds. After learning about all the other ways the government can spy on its citizens, I honestly can't say I'm surprised about this recent innovation, and I'm going to focus a lot more on what thoughts I should be keeping private in my mind - not in the proximity of technology. 

Sources

https://www.britannica.com/technology/artificial-intelligence

https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/alexa

https://towardsdatascience.com/how-amazon-alexa-works-your-guide-to-natural-language-processing-ai-7506004709d3