(Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

By Will Mccurdy

Amazon Echo users are set to lose the option to store and process their Alexa requests locally, meaning all of their voice recordings will be sent to Amazon’s cloud.

After March 28, Amazon will discontinue the “Do Not Send Voice Recordings” setting on Echo devices that support on-device voice recording storage. After that, all your voice recordings will be sent to Amazon’s cloud for processing.

In a recent email sent to customers, Amazon attributed the decision to its expansion of “Alexa’s capabilities with generative AI features that rely on the processing power of Amazon’s secure cloud.” That expansion is Alexa+, a supercharged version of the assistant that acts more like a human. It can search and summarize documents or emails you’ve shared or look up information. Alexa+ will be an Amazon Prime perk or $19.99 per month for non-Prime users.

However, these new Alexa+ features won’t be accessible for consumers who opt out of storing voice recordings with Amazon.

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Via https://au.pcmag.com/ai/110301/reminder-your-alexa-voice-recordings-will-soon-be-sent-to-amazon