The Google Assistant will soon store fewer queries and instructions and give you more control over how your sound clips are used.
Several tech companies, including Google, Amazon and Apple, have come under fire in recent weeks for using human workers to transcribe snippets of audio from smart speakers and virtual assistants. Their motives seemed reasonable: They wanted to make sure their software transcribed spoken commands correctly, but users didn't know that other people were listening.
It was also feared that the smart assistant could occasionally record background sound, including potentially sensitive information. Such data was removed without being transcribed, but this continued to be of concern to users.
As reported by 9to5Google, the company has put its ice cream transcription program in the wake of user complaints, and is now restoring it in a more controlled way.
Google Assistant will now store less audio overall and makes its human audit policy much more transparent. The service has always included an option called Voice and Video Activity, where users can choose whether to use their voice to improve the quality of transcripts.
Now, Google adds an additional text excerpt explaining that audio samples can be human-reviewed, and users will need to explicitly enable it to allow it. If they don't reconfirm their settings, Google won't hear their voices. transcriptionists.
Now listen here...
If you're concerned about the Google Assistant recording conversations in the background, you can now adjust the sensitivity of your keywords, making it easier or harder for Google Home speakers to enter the words "Hello Google."
These advances are welcome and we will be curious to know whether Amazon, Apple and others will follow in Google's footsteps by effectively locking their fingers to their ears.