This is disturbing: Google’s contractors who transcribe audio clips collected by its AI based Google Assistant can listen-in to sensitive information about users, including names, addresses, and details about their personal lives, Belgian outlet VRT News reports. Following the report, Google conceded that it "partner[s] with language experts around the world" and 0.2% of all audio snippets collected are reviewed. It also said that it reviews the collected audio "whether you’re speaking English or Hindi". This indicates that information of Indian users of Google Assistant might also have their audio reviewed by Google's transcribers. Google has been promoting its assistant in India via hoardings and even television advertisements. MediaNama has reached out to Google with the following questions: How many clips are generated everyday (In India)? What is the percentage of those clips that are heard by language experts? Is this program going to stop or will Google continue to let transcribers listen to audio clips? Why doesn't Google Home's Privacy policy page state anywhere that the collected audio might be heard by someone? Do you have a team of such "language experts" who transcribe the audio of Indian users? 0.2% of all audio clips is not a small number Google said that its transcribers review around 0.2 percent of all audio snippets collected by Google Assistant. Here's the problem with that: In India, Google Home's market share is around 39% as of now. Android, which has the Google Assistant on phone, has the largest marketshare of phones in India. Even if, for example, 1…
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