Does Alexa Invade our Privacy?

I was reading an article on Medium and I thought I would share some thoughts with all of you about it. Here is the link:

https://medium.com/futuresin/is-amazon-alexa-secure-for-our-private-conversations-2fe243626996

The article talks about Amazon's Echo (Alexa) and Google Home. Apparently, Amazon's Echo recorded a family's conversation and sent it to a random person on their contact list. This definitely raises questions of security for devices that are placed in our homes. Smart speakers are constantly "listening" just in case the user states, "Alexa, what is the weather." Once the smart speaker hears the word "Alexa" it responds. This means that the device must always be listening until the word "Alexa" is heard. This could be a nightmare for those people who value their privacy.

Amazon claims that the machine misheard background conversation and responded. Could this have been a simple mistake, or was the machine hacked? Amazon claims that they are not recording conversations, but what if someone was able to hack the machines and now they could record our conversations without us knowing?

Tech companies are now also working on Artificial Intelligence. Computers and machines will get more sophisticated and advanced each year. Will these new devices also be able to record our conversations and send them to other parties? Of course Amazon is downplaying the event as an extremely rare occurrence, however, we heard similar defenses from Facebook, while monetizing our free use for years.

What are your thoughts? Please share in the comment section and thanks for stopping by.