As most of the Lemmy users are security/privacy minded, after a question about alternative voices I’m wondering. Why would you allow a virtual assistance to spy on you constantly? (Especially when you don’t need to due to other limitations)
And as a side note, is there a way to kill Siri completely on IOS (not just go trough all app settings and disable siri there)? (company phone, so alas not jail broken, Android is rooted and GA has been removed, as is the Google app itself)
People use stuff like Alexa or Google home mostly as a voice activated timer, weather reporter, or speaker. If they have light bulbs maybe they use it that too. It can also be handy for voice activated controls for a movie if it can connect to something like a fire stick.
Most people don’t actually know what might be involved in terms of privacy concerns. They see the convenance of tech or something that’s neat. A vast majority of people simply aren’t doing things like uninstalling Google apps or know what a GPL refers to.
There are open source and local versions of home automation and voice assistants.
I have Alexa because it was on sale and useful to me. I don’t really think out loud and can unplug the thing if I want to talk about unionizing. When I replace things or buy new ones I’ll be keeping in mind compatibility with open source or local solutions. Alexa does integrate with a lot of stuff though. I do think it will be discontinued at some point. Amazon loses money on the product and it hasn’t been increasing sales like they hoped. No one trusts the damn thing to buy crap off Amazon for them.