Amazon Echo users will no longer have the option to keep their voice recordings local, as the company moves to require all Alexa requests to be processed in the cloud starting March 28.
According to a report by Ars Technica, Amazon recently notified users who had enabled the “Do Not Send Voice Recordings” setting, informing them that this privacy-focused option will no longer be available. The company cited the expansion of Alexa’s generative AI capabilities, which rely on cloud-based processing, as the reason for the change.
“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,” Amazon wrote in an email to affected customers.
The shift comes amid growing concerns over privacy and data security related to voice assistants. Consumers and regulators have previously questioned how Amazon stores and uses voice recordings collected through Echo devices. In 2023, the company agreed to a $25 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over allegations that it had retained children’s voice recordings longer than legally permitted.
The move to cloud-only processing may reignite debates over consumer privacy, as all Alexa interactions will now be stored and processed on Amazon’s servers rather than handled locally on devices.
This policy change coincides with Amazon’s rollout of Alexa+, a new version of its AI-powered assistant designed to offer more advanced conversational abilities and enhanced AI features.
