Amazon Shifts All Alexa Voice Commands to the Cloud, Ending Local Processing
Amazon is discontinuing the option for local processing of voice commands on its Echo devices, forcing all spoken requests to be analyzed in the cloud starting March 28, 2025. The company has not officially announced the change on its help pages, but several sources confirmed to The Register that user emails about the update are legitimate. This change affects users who had previously selected the ‘Do Not Send Voice Recordings’ setting.
“We are reaching out to let you know that the Alexa feature ‘Do Not Send Voice Recordings’ that you enabled on your supported Echo device(s) will no longer be available beginning March 28, 2025,” the email stated. “As we continue to expand Alexa’s capabilities with generative AI features that rely on the processing power of Amazon’s secure cloud, we have decided to no longer support this feature.”
Echo Devices Affected
The shift primarily impacts owners of the 4th-gen Echo Dot, Echo Show 10, and Echo Show 15, as these are the only Echo devices that supported local processing. Less powerful Echo gadgets don’t have local processing capabilities. The change means that all Alexa requests are routed to Amazon’s servers for analysis, regardless of the user’s settings.
Privacy Implications and Data Storage.
Privacy-conscious users who had chosen to disable sending voice recordings won’t have a choice; the setting will be disabled automatically. Amazon claims relatively few users had activated the setting. However those users will no longer have a choice and the option to protect their data, is being removed.
According to the email, “If you do not take action, your Alexa Settings will automatically be updated to ‘Don’t save recordings.’ Starting on March 28, your voice recordings will be sent to and processed in the cloud, and they will be deleted after Alexa processes your requests.” The shift may impact a variety of features. The email continued, “If your voice recordings setting is updated to ‘Don’t save recordings,’ voice ID will not work and you will not be able to create a voice ID for individual users to access more personalized features.”
Privacy Concerns
Some experts have voiced concerns about the privacy implications of this move, underlining some questions about Amazon’s history of handling user data, and privacy issues with voice assistants.
One Amazon help page mentions that even when audio recordings remain local, a text transcript of each request is still transmitted to Amazon’s cloud, for processing. These text transcripts are stored, alongside voice recordings, and don’t automatically delete. The user must manually remove them via their Voice History, if they are aware of the records at all.
These changes arrive after years of public concern regarding Amazon’s data practices. Studies claimed Amazon has used Alexa data to target users with ads, both on Echo devices and across the web. Third-party apps for Alexa devices have often lacked robust privacy policies and safeguards.
Amazon has had prior run-ins with government agencies involving its security infrastructure. The FTC claimed that security issues allowed Amazon employees and contractors to directly access customer video feeds, and that the company unlawfully retained Alexa voice recordings of children, violating child privacy laws
Amazon’s Response
Amazon maintains the change does not compromise user privacy. An Amazon spokesperson stated, “The Alexa experience is designed to protect our customers’ privacy and keep their data secure, and that’s not changing. We’re focusing on the privacy tools and controls that our customers use most and work well with generative AI experiences that rely on the processing power of Amazon’s secure cloud.”
Generative AI and Alexa+
The change seems to be driven by the advent of new generative AI features. The models require significant compute power provided only by Amazon’s secure cloud infrastructure.The devices affected by this update (Echo Dot 4th gen, Show 10, and Show 15) are all devices compatible with Alexa+, the paid subscription service that offers advanced AI features.
Limited Privacy Options Remain
Amazon stated that users have remaining privacy tools. The most relevant, customers would still be “option to not save their voice recordings at all.” However, this functionality will impact features such as voice recognition. Recognition of individual speakers and their preferences is a key element of the Alexa experience. The company claims to be committed to learning from customer feedback, and is working to develop privacy features that align with customer expectations
