Fact · Voice privacy and security
In August 2019, Amazon changed Alexa's settings so that users could opt out of having their voice recordings manually reviewed by its human workers. The change took effect on Friday, August 2, 2019, after Bloomberg reported the practice.
Checked against its source on October 17, 2026
In the source's own words
“allow users to opt out of their voice recordings being manually reviewed”
Amazon quietly adds 'no human review' option to Alexa settings as voice AIs face privacy scrutiny, Natasha Lomas, TechCrunch, 2019, Opening paragraph.
Open the original- What it measures
- Before the change, the Alexa terms did not say that people might review the audio. The opt-out sits in the Alexa app's privacy settings.
- What it does not show
- The article does not say how many recordings Amazon reviewed. It relies on Bloomberg's April 2019 reporting and an Amazon statement that only a small sample was reviewed.