My own smart speaker recorded a private chat and sent it to my boss

Honestly, I was just talking with my wife about maybe looking for a new job, nothing serious. Two days later, my boss pulled me aside and asked if I was unhappy. He said he got a weird audio clip from me via email, and it was our whole kitchen conversation. The speaker must have heard its name, recorded us, and attached the file to an email draft I never sent. Tbh, that freaked me out more than any data breach story. Has anyone else had a device just decide to share stuff on its own?

2 comments

2 Comments

cameron_chen15d ago

Come on, that's a huge leap. These things don't just "decide" to do things. They follow code. It heard its wake word, thought you gave a send command, and attached the audio to an old draft. That's a bug, not a mind of its own. You probably said something that sounded like "send an email" right after. My smart home messes up commands all the time, like turning on lights when I'm talking about a bright idea. It's just bad listening software, not a conspiracy. You should check your activity log.

wendy_ross7115d ago

Yeah but that's still the speaker making a choice to act... it followed bad code like you said, but the result is the same. My point is these things can do real harm without meaning to. A bug that sends private chats to your boss is just as scary as something done on purpose. The tech isn't smart enough to know it messed up, so it keeps doing its job wrong. That's what creeps me out.