The Hidden Cost of Voice Assistants

Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Apple all have their own voice automation platforms. Voice automated assistants have been depicted in science fiction for the past century so now that it's finally here, it just feels so natural. 

So natural in fact that when each of the above providers of voice assistance provides it entirely free of charge to our mobile and smart devices, we don't even question it. Free is free, right? Well as they say, 

"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch". 

Many man hours, engineering, data storage and servers, rack space and electricity goes into that "Siri, what's the weather like?" or "Hey Google, how much bacon is too much bacon?". Do we really think they are going to pay for all of that out of the goodness of their corporate hearts?

Certainly not. Let's take a look at Google's privacy policy. They suggest that they collect data on you in three categories. 

This is the info you might expect to see or be most familiar with as typical analytics you see collected from many sites and services.

Again, this may not be all that surprising either, but in tandem, what you do and what you create starts to paint a pretty clear picture of you as a unique online identity. Everything you do, where you are, who you know and who you talk to and everything you create. This might be very valuable for the purposes of tailored advertisements.

Ok, this is where it gets a bit creepier. Not just what you do and create but what makes you "You" . Sure, the provided examples seem benign but it only says "can include"... but also can include purchasing preferences, life events that are likely to alter interests - such as having a baby, your political affiliations, ideological tendencies, etc... Using Google services for long enough will likely lead to Google knowing you better than you know yourself.

It's kind of funny considering the recent controversy around Cambridge Analytica and Facebook prompting the fairly successful #DeleteFacebook movement over the collection of personal data, when Google, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon all do the same but simply are much less upfront about it. 

Honestly, Facebook deserves a bit of credit for providing such a simple way for a user to download and view exactly what information facebook is collecting. Google is actually much more misleading with their benign examples they provide when we know they collect much much more than that, with no easy way to download the data they have on you.

In conclusion, I'll leave it up to you to decide what your worth is and if you are more valuable than a free voice assistant because the price is selling every bit of data that these services can squeeze from what makes you you, so they can turn that data around on you, create echo chambers by showing you internet content that it thinks you want, sell you more things and open yourself up for manipulation via these platforms. At the very least, choose the assistant associated with the company that you trust the most with your data.