Google is giving customers more control over their voice recordings. While the company now automatically opts all users out of audio storage, it wants people to opt back in—but on their own terms.
In an email (currently making the rounds to "virtually everybody who's spoken into a microphone with a Google logo next to it," according to The Verge), the search engine promised to securely stash all recordings in individuals' Google Accounts.
"Saved audio recordings help improve our audio recognition technologies, so products like Google Assistant can understand language even better in the future," the email explains. "To keep you in control of your audio recordings setting, we've turned it off for you until you are able to review the updated information."
Click the link in the email, or visit My Activity > Activity Controls > Include audio recordings to start saving your interactions with Search, Assistant, and Maps. Check the option to "include audio recordings," and you'll be met with a pop-up detailing how Google uses your audio (human operators listen to, transcribe, and annotate it) and what happens to it (it gets deleted once it's no longer needed for development). You must explicitly agree to the terms to get started.
The update does not apply to other Google services, nor does it affect any audio data previously saved to your account (before June 2020). Folks do have the option to delete all their Google Home voice recordings.
When news broke last year that major firms used humans to review their AI audio transcriptions, Google temporarily paused the practice. Now, strangers are back to listen to your "anonymized" voice requests—but only if you explicitly let them.
Further Reading
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