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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology
Jeremy Ettinghausen

‘Alexa, what do you know about us?’ What I discovered when I asked Amazon to tell me everything my family’s smart speaker had heard

Illustration of a family sat round a table with a thought bubble containing music, books, swearing and a timer. At the centre is a person staring out of the image with the Amazon logo on their coat

She is always listening. She is unfailingly polite. She is often obtuse. She is sometimes helpful. She frequently frustrates. She isn’t great with bashment artists. Or grime. Or drum’n’bass. She needs to be spoken to slowly and clearly, as you’d talk to an aged relative with diminished faculties. She doesn’t like French accents.

‘“Alexa, how long do wasps live for?”

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