Amazon Scraps Privacy Feature, Sending Alexa Voice Recordings To Cloud

Starting March 28, Amazon Echo users will no longer have the option to process their Alexa voice recordings locally which means those recordings will be sent to the company's cloud. Alexa currently offers an opt-in feature called "Do Not Send Voice Recordings" to its customers which stops audio requests from being sent to Amazon.

"We are reaching out to let you know that the Alexa feature 'Do Not Send Voice Recordings' that you enabled on your supported Echo device(s) will no longer be available beginning March 28th, 2025," the company said in an email sent to Echo customers who have enabled the option.

"If you do not take action, your Alexa Settings will automatically be updated to 'Don't save recordings.'"

While the voice recordings will be processed in the cloud, the email added that "they will be deleted" after Alexa had processed the requests. If a user reverts to the previous setting, they may lose personalised features such as voice ID, calendar events, reminders, music and more.

"If your voice recordings setting is updated to 'Don't save recordings', voice ID will not work and you will not be able to create a voice ID for individual users to access more personalized features.'"

The development comes at a time when Amazon is launching a new version of its voice-controlled AI assistant, called Alexa+.

"As we continue to expand Alexa's capabilities with generative AI features that rely on the processing power of Amazon's secure cloud, we have decided to no longer support this feature."

Amazon in a clarification to the New York Post said the opt-in feature was only available to customers in the US with devices set to English. The company claimed that less than 0.03 per cent of customers used the feature.

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Social media reacts

Reacting to the email, social media users expressed disappointment with many considering giving up on the device owing to privacy concerns

"Great opportunity to discontinue Amazon Alexa!" said one user while another added: "Not a big shock with them about to move to the full AI version of Alexa."

A third commented: "Yeah, and that is why I've always encouraged everyone I know to NEVER buy Amazon products."

Amazon's dodgy privacy history

Customers have long raised concerns about Amazon and Alexa's handling of voice data. In 2023, the US-based company agreed to pay $25 million in a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission for storing recordings of children's interactions with Alexa.

The tech giant also reached a $5.8 million settlement over its Ring doorbell camera unit after the FTC said the device had been used for spying on some customers.