Amazon Alexa virtual assistant

Alexa is a 'virtual assistant' developed by Amazon uses natural language processing and speech recognition technologies to enable users to ask questions and receive answers, get traffic alerts, set alarms, make lists, play music, and other things. 

Launched in 2014 and available in multiple countries and languages, Alexa was first used in Amazon's Echo and Echo Dot smart speakers, and later in its Echo Studio and other products.

Amazon’s devices business lost over USD 25 billion from 2017 to 2021, according to The Wall Street Journal.  

Risks and harms 🛑

Alexa is seen to pose a wide range of potential risks and caused actual harms to its users, including the unreliability and inappropriate behaviour of its product, opaque governance, supply chain management and the abuse of privacy, inadequate safety and security, and perceived gender and racial stereotyping and bias.

Transparency and accountability 🔥

Amazon Alexa is associated with important transparency and accountability limitations.

• Algorithmic black box. The underlying algorithms that power Alexa's responses and recommendations are not publicly disclosed.

• Voice data handling. It is not always clear how Amazon stores, processes, and uses the voice recordings it collects from users.

• Privacy controls. While privacy settings exist, they are complex for average users to understand and manage effectively.

• Child privacy. The specific safeguards for children's data in households with Alexa devices are unclear.

• Data sharing. Amazon's policies on sharing Alexa data with advertisers or other third parties are vague and subject to change.

• Unintended activations. It is not always clear when Alexa is listening or how accidental recordings are handled.

• Security measures. While Amazon claims strong security, the specifics of how they protect user data and devices are not fully disclosed.

• Human review. The extent and nature of human review of Alexa recordings for quality improvement is not transparent.

Legal, regulatory 👩🏼‍⚖️

• C.O. v Amazon, A2Z Development Center (2019) (pdf)

• R.A. v Amazon, A2Z Development Center (2019) (pdf) 

Research, advocacy 🧮

• Ofcom/Community Research (2022). Smart speakers research with the public (pdf)

• Iqbal U. et al (2022). Your Echos are Heard: Tracking, Profiling, and Ad Targeting in the Amazon Smart Speaker Ecosystem

• Mavrina L. et al (2022). “Alexa, You're Really Stupid”: A Longitudinal Field Study on Communication Breakdowns Between Family Members and a Voice Assistant

• Wilson C. (2020). Dangerous Skills Got Certified: Measuring the Trustworthiness of Amazon Alexa Platform (pdf)

• UNESCO (2019). I'd blush if I could: closing gender divides in digital skills through education

News, commentary, analysis 🗞️

• https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/28/23047026/amazon-alexa-voice-data-targeted-ads-research-report

• https://time.com/6216722/how-ai-tech-harms-children/

• https://news.yahoo.com/amazons-alexa-makes-racist-remarks-203511888.html

• https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/alexa-what-are-you-doing-with-my-familys-personal-info/

• https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/09/alexa-are-you-invading-my-privacy-the-dark-side-of-our-voice-assistants

• https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/sep/28/voice-assistants-could-hinder-childrens-social-and-cognitive-development