Commentary

Consumers Concerned Their Voice Assistants Are Listening In

Voice assistants are getting plenty of use but many of the consumers using them have concerns.

Nearly half (45%) of consumers globally use voice assistants such as Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home, based on a new study.

However, the majority (69%) of voice assistant users say they find it creepy when they receive ads from voice assistants based on unprompted cues, according the study, comprising a survey of 5,000 consumers in North America and Europe conducted by Selligent.

That’s not the only worry consumers have.

More than half (51%) worry that voice assistants are listening without consent.

Younger consumers are more suspicious that their voice assistants are listening in on them.

More than half (58%) of those 18 to 24 years old are suspicious, higher than those 25 to 35 (57%), 36 to 54 (48%) and 55 to 75 (36%).

Voice assistants walk a fine line on the creepy vs. cool scale.

1 comment about "Consumers Concerned Their Voice Assistants Are Listening In".
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  1. R MARK REASBECK from www.USAonly.US , October 1, 2019 at 6:41 p.m.

    DUH'.........you invite a spy into your house, sponsored and built by a spy company, and you're shocked it is actually spying on you?   Have we really become this atupid?
    If you read this column on a regular basis, do you not recognize that 80% of the articles are about tech companies that their sole purpose is to get advertising in front of you, on literally every front?

    Why is any of this a surprise??

    Go back to basics folks, dump rhe "Smart" stuff, because they have Out-Smarted you.

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About the Author

Chuck Martin is Editor of the AI & IoT Daily at MediaPost and writes the daily Connected Thinking column. He is a NY Times Business bestselling author and his latest book is “Digital Transformation 3.0” (The New Business-to-Consumer Connections of The Internet of Things.) He is CEO of Net Future Institute and a frequent keynote speaker internationally. Follow him on Twitter @chuckmartin and contact him at Chuck@MediaPost.com.