Starting March 28, Amazon Echo devices will no longer process Alexa voice requests locally.
Instead, all voice recordings will be sent to Amazon’s cloud.
Amazon informed customers about this change through an email, specifically addressing those who had enabled the “Do Not Send Voice Recordings” setting.
The company explained that as Alexa’s AI features expand, they will depend on cloud processing, making local storage no longer an option.
This update coincides with the introduction of Alexa+, a new version of Amazon’s voice assistant.
In the past, privacy concerns have been raised about Alexa, leading to regulatory scrutiny.
In 2023, Amazon paid a $25 million settlement to the Federal Trade Commission over privacy violations related to children’s data.
With the shift to cloud-based storage, users may need to reassess their privacy preferences, as voice recordings will now be stored remotely by Amazon.
