Does Alexis Listen ....

[naomi24]

... without being prompted?

[Zacs-Master]

Do you mean Alexa?

If so, then, yes I’m absolutely sure they do. I say ‘they’ as there are other internet ‘assistants’.

[naomi24]

Oh, yes, that's it. Alexa.

[Llanfair]

When you want to talk to Alexa, you have to first wake up your device by using the wake word (“Alexa”). Only then does the device begin recording and sending your request to Amazon's secure cloud.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/b/?node=17084411031

[Vagus]

Our google doesn’t seem to. We need to say ‘hey google’ and then ask the question or it doesn’t respond.

[Zacs-Master]

Both of the above answers don’t prove that the device isn’t listening to other things. Saying ‘Alexa’ or whatever gives the appearance that the device suddenly starts listening but all your doing is alerting it to the fact that you want it to do something specific.

[Zacs-Master]

You’re

[Vagus]

Actually Zacs, you’re right, I was just going to amend my answer.
It seems it is always listening but needs the prompt before it acts on a question.

[Tilly2]

We keep ours switched off until we want to use it.

[naomi24]

I'll explain the reason for my question. A friend undergoing medical treatment was talking to her husband about the detrimental effect it was having on her and within about half an hour adverts for helpful remedies were popping up on her Facebook page. She swears the device was listening to the conversation.

[Zacs-Master]

Yep, that’s how they work. I’m very careful not to mention the words erectile dysfunction. Not that I have to, of course.

[ToraToraTora]

yes they listen to everything. Wouldn't have one myself.

[youngmafbog]

Of course it is always listening. How else would it pick up "Alexa" or whatever.

Whether it records all the time is another matter. Personally I refuse to have these devices in my house, perhaps because being in IT for over 30 years I know how programmers(I once was one) minds think. And it is dead easy to slip code in if you have a mind to do it.

[ToraToraTora]

think about it, in order to wake up on a key word it has to listen for that key word.

[ToraToraTora]

YMB - snap!

[Zacs-Master]

Do you have a smart phone, Tora? If so then it’s probably listening to you.

[ToraToraTora]

frankly I cannot see why anyone would want one anyway, it doesn't do anything you can't do simply anyway.

[ToraToraTora]

I turn all that off, first thing I do ZM.

[naomi24]

YMB/TTT, that's a very good point.

I wouldn't have one either, YMB.

[johnny.5]

and .
If you have a smart tv it will track you and your movements even watching you via it's built-in camera sharing data with whoever is prepared to pay for it

[naomi24]

^That's not true .... is it?