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I'm never putting one of these in my home.

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[-] whitecapstromgard@sh.itjust.works 85 points 2 years ago

Of course they are. If you are surprised by this, then you are an idiot.

[-] EnderMB@lemmy.world 38 points 2 years ago

I work for Amazon.

This has been the case for many years. Amazon has used AI in Alexa and other services for many years as primary providers, and has told it's users it's used it's data for as long. We're talking from close to inception here, so 6-7 years, at least. Hell, LLM's aren't even new to most big tech companies!

I'm all for privacy, but if you want privacy then you probably shouldn't have a fucking tin can in your house that actions every conversation to a cloud service!

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

Not every conversation, just statements following a detected wake word.

[-] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 19 points 2 years ago
[-] EnderMB@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

Considering I set up one of the content types that relates to wakeword and utterance text analysis for Alexa, I trust it completely.

[-] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

But can I trust you? Are you willing to share the source code?

Edit: Tell me why I'm suppose to trust an internet rando?

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[-] cjsolx@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago

They literally tell you when you go through setup.

[-] balder1991@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

Well,that's the thing with "news" right? Just scattered information without context for clicks. If people start connecting the dots and things make sense, most of the news become pretty uninteresting and would not evoke anger, prompting you to click and share.

[-] maegul@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 years ago

Harsh but true. We need some tough love in our relationship with tech.

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[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 58 points 2 years ago

Yeah, that's kinda the point. They literally tell you that your voice interactions are used to improve the service.

[-] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 43 points 2 years ago

I will be the last person to not have a smart home. There will be a banner over the doorway: "Welcome to Stupid House".

There will be a small cover charge.

[-] Maestro@kbin.social 40 points 2 years ago

You can have a privacy-first smart home. I have. I run Home Assistant in a docker container. No external services/plugins. My smart doorbell streams to my local nvr. If my internet is down, everything keeps working. And it's not even that hard anymore. It's become a lot easier over the last 2-3 years. Still not for non-techie users, but a lot better.

[-] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 23 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

That sounds pretty reasonable.

Edit: Still kind of want to call my place "Stupid House" for myriad other reasons

[-] Wogi@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago

I'm not tech illiterate by any means, and everything after "home assistant" in that post is Greek to me

[-] Maestro@kbin.social 8 points 2 years ago

Docker is a way to run containers. Basically lightweight virtual servers. That makes it easy to run multiple servers on one machine. An NVR is a network video recorder. It's like a video security system like they use in stores where all cameras are viewed and recorded in a single place. I assume you know what a doorbell is 😄

[-] Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

Have any resources to get started with that? Been looking into security systems but don't fully trust nest/ring/simplisafe etc

[-] Maestro@kbin.social 5 points 2 years ago

Just start with a local Home Assistant on. Raspberry Pi and go from there: https://www.home-assistant.io/installation/

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[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 20 points 2 years ago

I'm with you. I hate how they expect me to control everything from my phone or with voice commands. I'm fine walking to a light switch or walking to the thermostat.

[-] orclev@lemmy.world 25 points 2 years ago

There's a middle ground as well. I refuse to put Alexa or OK Google or whatever on any of my stuff, but I run home-assistant with zigbee smart devices. My entire setup runs completely cut off from the internet. I could in theory even air gap it, although that's a little overkill. It's a "smart" house, but one I'm 100% in control of.

[-] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Is that self hosted? I'd just about fuck with a FOSS self hosted smart home setup, but even then I could barely be arsed

[-] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

Yes. You can host it on a pi if you want

[-] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

That's badass. I've got one lying around actually.

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[-] squiblet@kbin.social 5 points 2 years ago

The last thing I want is to talk to a computer. Buttons are fine. The roboto phone customer service is bad enough.

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[-] lntl@lemmy.ml 30 points 2 years ago

haven't we all known this since product launch ?

[-] muertinez@lemm.ee 23 points 2 years ago

not sure how much they’ll learn from me screaming “you dumb bitch” at it

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[-] sagrotan@lemmy.world 18 points 2 years ago

Noooo reaaally?

[-] DemBoSain@midwest.social 16 points 2 years ago

The new Amazon AI is going to be remarkably foul-mouthed. Every time it screws up (and it screws up a lot) I have to curse at it to make it shut up so it can hear the command again.

[-] ImpossibilityBox@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

I brings me joy when I tell her "Alexa, shut up you dumb bitch" and then she responds with that sad minor tone dejected sound.

[-] maegul@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 years ago

So who thinks this conversation here on lemmy isn’t being used to train an AI? Maybe not right now but later?

Sure the relatively small size of lemmy means it might not be scooped up and trained on. But the point still stands. All that is publicly online is food for the big-corp AI builders. And while Alexa invading your home privacy is obviously a shitty thing, I’m not sure we’ve all thought through the new relationship between us, the internet and the big AIs.

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

Well I know I have no expectation of privacy here, but I'd rather open source LLMs train on my words along with proprietary ones, than some company hoarding information and selling it to each other.

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[-] Orionza@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

We always knew that. What they don't tell you is your phone is also secretly listening. "Ok Google" <- turn that thing off too

[-] mechoman444@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

An always on microphone connected to a company that is mostly known to exploit their customers and employees! Say it ain't so!

[-] Rognaut@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

Yeah, I realized these things are terrible about a year ago. So, I hacked them into computer speakers using some cheap amps and a 12 volt power supply.

[-] mojo@lemm.ee 7 points 2 years ago

And none of it has paid off because Alexa is still super trash

[-] tacosplease@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

I love being able to dictate a grocery list but god damn is she stupid.

Good luck asking for cream cheese and chive crackers without ending up with cream cheese as one item and chive crackers as another. Or worse peanut butter and honey crackers as peanut butter and then honey crackers

[-] wagoner@infosec.pub 6 points 2 years ago

"chive crackers with cream cheese"

"honey crackers with peanut butter"

?

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[-] yoz@aussie.zone 7 points 2 years ago

Who the fuck are buying these ? I really want to meet the person who has one of these in their home.

[-] PlantDadManGuy@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

Hi I have one! The echo is actually a very useful smart speaker and produces good quality audio. Mainly I just use it to voice activate Spotify and for quick easy things like weather forecasts, trivia that comes up in conversation, and updates on package orders. Yes I realize it's probably spying on me. No I don't care that much.

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this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2023
471 points (100.0% liked)

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