When AI Gets Too Close: Privacy, Data, and the New Era of Smart Devices

In late February, Amazon rolled out Alexa+, an advanced version of its voice assistant designed to understand and respond to natural, conversational speech, while this technological leap was impressive, it stirred significant concern in the tech and privacy communities.

Why? Because Alexa+ comes with a catch: users cannot opt out of having their voice commands stored and used by Amazon to improve its products.

In other words, every conversation you have with Alexa could potentially be used to train Amazon’s AI models, this is a bold move, and it’s quickly becoming the new normal.

Shortly after Amazon’s update, Meta followed suit with its own devices, the company revised the privacy policy for its Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses, enabling Meta AI to capture and store not only voice commands but also photos and videos triggered through voice.

This content will be stored on Meta’s servers for up to a year, and just like Amazon, there’s no way for users to refuse participation in this data-sharing process.

It’s now clear: Big Tech has found a direct solution to the data scarcity problem that has long limited AI training, they’re turning to consumers, and their real-world interactions as the source.

At Ayvo, we recognize the incredible value of AI-powered innovation, but we also believe in responsible AI development, where transparency and user consent are foundational, not optional.

The rapid growth of smart devices and natural language AI must be balanced with ethical data practices, especially when users’ personal moments are becoming part of the machine learning pipeline.

As businesses adopt and integrate AI, what responsibilities do they carry toward user data and consent? And as users, are we prepared for how much of ourselves we’re offering in return for convenience?