Amazon is shutting down a privacy-focused feature that allowed some Echo devices to process Alexa requests locally, rather than sending them to the cloud.
According to an email sent to users and later shared on Reddit, this change will take effect on 28 March 28.
Amazon confirmed the change to The Verge, with spokesperson Lauren Raemhild stating:
“The Alexa experience is designed to protect our customers’ privacy and keep their data secure, and that’s not changing. We’re focusing on the privacy tools and controls that our customers use most and work well with generative AI experiences that rely on the processing power of Amazon’s secure cloud. Customers can continue to choose from a robust set of tools and controls, including the option to not save their voice recordings at all. We’ll continue learning from customer feedback and building privacy features on their behalf.”
It could, of course, be a coincidence but the shutdown date is around the same time that Amazon’s AI-supercharged Alexa Plus is expected to land for users in the US.
The email states: “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.”
It’s not all doom and gloom for the security conscious though; while they will no longer have the option to prevent voice recordings from reaching Amazon’s servers, they can still choose to have them deleted after processing.
If you currently have the “Do Not Send Voice Recordings” setting enabled, it will automatically switch to “Don’t save recordings”.
That does mean that Alexa will still send your requests to the cloud for processing, but the recordings won’t be stored afterward.
The local processing feature itself was relatively niche anyways; it was only available on three Echo devices the latest Echo Dot, Echo Show 10 or Echo Show 15.
If you are worried about how Amazon deals with your data then take a look at our guide on Alexa privacy: How to delete and control Alexa voice history.
