Image Credit: Vox

General interest news site Vox runs down the rise in popularity of smart assistants in the last decade and how your privacy is able to keep the cost of speakers so cheap.

Just six years ago, smart speakers were a novel idea. Today smart assistants are everywhere from speakers to phones, tablets, headphones, watches, TVs, cars and much more. We’ve seen smart speakers for sale under $20, but how are companies such as Amazon, Google and Apple able to produce such low-cost smart speakers?

Vox detail how our personal data is exchanged for budget smart speakers, the questions regarding what happens to your commands after they’ve been processed and the opt out privacy settings you likely don’t even know about. Are commands stored, do humans listen in, are recordings sold to advertisers or used to target product recommendations on their own services such as Amazon or Google?

Technology companies are keen to add smart assistants to every aspect of your life, so this data collection rises.