Amazon has recently sent an email to customers who use smart speaker and display devices Echo, stating that they can no longer set them to work in a local mode and no data will be sent to Amazon servers, effective since March 28th.
Previously, Echo had a function that allowed users to prevent voice recordings from being sent back to Amazon (Do Not Send Voice Recordings). However, this announcement specifies that Amazon now requires all voice data to be sent to the servers because Alexa has enhanced its Generative AI capabilities, necessitating processing through Amazon’s cloud system with encryption and privacy protection, leading to the decision to shut down local processing altogether.
Last month, Amazon introduced Alexa+, a development version of the original smart assistant Alexa, with added capabilities in machine learning LLM.
Source: Ars Technica
TLDR: Amazon notifies customers that Echo devices can no longer operate in local mode and all voice data must be sent to Amazon servers due to advancements in Generative AI, prompting the shutdown of local processing.
Leave a Comment