Don’t be surprised if you received an email from Google regarding audio privacy. Just like the lawsuit settlement notices, this is real. If you haven’t received one, don’t worry too. Google simply wants to inform Google account holders that it has updated your audio and video settings. This is a result of the tech giant working to improve privacy and security, as well as, making humans check audio snippets of the users. With this move, Google has opted for every user out of the setting that allows the company to save their audio.
This may still come as a surprise to many because you may not be aware that you’ve opted in this setting. Well, the email includes information about the said option. Not all users are getting a notification–only those that have interacted with Google products that use audio like Google Assistant, Google Maps, or Google’s voice AI have received the message.
There is no word on how many Google users have received the notification. If you have spoken to the Google Assistant before or said “Hey Google” even just once, you may receive the email.
Google is encouraging account holders to visit their Google Account to review and enable audio recordings settings. We clicked on the Review Settings button and was taken to a page that shows the following:
Audio recordings are now Off. If you wish to start saving audio, click on the arrow on the left.
Google is said to have started to use again humans to check AI transcriptions’ quality. It’s a good move but unfortunately, some audio recordings were leaked. It was big news last year and Google must have learned its lesson already.
It’s not just Google, other companies have also learned to value audio data privacy as they should. Users are given disclosures or are asked to consent again. Services are being improved so this is good news.
