Google has made some functional changes regarding Google Assistant, including the way it handles your audio data and the sensitivity of hotword detection. This move by the software giant is to make up for the privacy concerns raised when human workers used to listen to all your Google Assistant conversations.
Google Assistant will soon allow you to set the sensitivity of “Hey Google” detection. This will effectively reduce unintentional activations. I must not be the only one who is getting annoyed by Google Assistant popping up out of nowhere when I didn’t even ask for its help, am I?
Whenever the Assistant detects the “Hey Google” hotword unintentionally, all the audio data associated with it used to be deleted automatically for a while now. Google is stepping this up even further by “implementing additional measures” to identify and reduce unintentional activations.
Now, Google does not store audio recordings by default. However, you can opt in to provide your audio data to help Assistant learn to recognise your voice better. Google has also stated that the Voice & Audio Activity (VAA) you provide will help them understand more languages and accents thereby improving the Assistant’s efficiency for everyone.
Going forward, the Assistant will store less audio data than it used to before. Also, a “vast majority of audio data” linked with your account that is older than a few months will be deleted. This new approach will be implemented later this year.
If you’re interested to check your current Google Assistant settings, you may do so from here. You will be able to browse or delete all your Assistant data from the page. So, what do you think of these changes made by Google? Tell us in the comments.
