Google is changing how it handles audio and human reviewers

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Companies using human contractors to review audio have become a huge problem these days, but one tech giant is changing it up a bit.

Google is making some changes to its audio data retention policies, which we will be able to see come to fruition in the coming months.

Google is making some changes to how audio is reviewed and how users approve the program

One change Google has already made is a prompt that will ask every user to re-affirm their choice to opt-in to that program, which is the way it should be unlike Facebook where you have to opt-out rather than opt-in. Google is also working towards a new sensitivity option for “Hey Google” hot word detection, which will make it less likely for the feature to be activated via unintended audio.

All these changes made by Google come in light of the recent controversies surrounding every major smart assistant and how they store sensitive data. Google Assistant itself also came under the spotlight due to a recent EU investigation which is still ongoing.

Google will also now specifically mention that the “Voice & Audio Activity (VAA)” setting will contain human reviews as previously it wasn’t that clear to users. To combat any future problems Google has also stated that they will “vastly reduce the amount of audio data they store,” promising to “delete the vast majority of audio data associated with your account that’s older than a few months.”

Google will not only reduce the amount of audio data stored but they also promised that they are adding “an extra layer of privacy filters” to the audio transcription process.

What do you think? Glad to see Google making these changes? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Murtaza Islam

Murtaza is a Computer Science student who takes immense interest in mobile technology. He believes the future of computing lies in smartphones because ARM architecture will eventually take over. He also loves to tinker with ROMs and kernels keeping up with the latest in smartphones.