Amazon to kill off local Alexa processing, all voice requests shipped to cloud

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Privacy, Surveillance, and User Reactions

  • Many see the change as confirming Alexa is a “wiretap” and say they’ll unplug or trash their devices.
  • Others argue this is largely symbolic outrage, since almost all Alexa voice has always gone to the cloud anyway.
  • Several commenters downloaded their complete Alexa history and found it disturbing how much intimate behavioral data was captured, prompting them to remove the device.
  • Concerns extend to subpoenas and law enforcement access, and hypothetical “duty to report” scenarios (gunshots, self‑harm, abuse phrases).

What Actually Changed (and Confusion About It)

  • Multiple participants stress that only a subset of newer devices ever supported limited on‑device processing, and even then most functionality still used the cloud.
  • The new move mainly removes a relatively obscure “local only” / “do not send recordings” option used by a small minority.
  • Some criticize the headline and coverage as misleading or “ginned‑up outrage,” but others welcome the attention on privacy regardless.

Cloud vs Local Processing and LLMs

  • One camp: everything should be done locally now; hardware and models are cheap and small enough.
  • Counterpoint: Echo hardware is intentionally underpowered; advanced models and rich context (history, devices, etc.) realistically require cloud resources.
  • Advocates of hybrid designs suggest hard‑coded local rules for common commands (“set alarm”, “timer”) and cloud only for complex queries.
  • Others argue LLM‑driven assistants blur the line between “simple” and “complex” queries, making full-cloud processing more attractive for vendors.

Alternatives, FOSS, and Repurposing

  • Interest in open/homegrown assistants: Home Assistant voice, OpenVoiceOS (successor to Mycroft), and local Whisper setups.
  • Reports that Home Assistant’s current voice stack and microphones lag behind Alexa in quality and latency.
  • Several point to hacking/repurposing Echo hardware to avoid e‑waste, e.g., turning old Dots into general Linux devices and sending audio to local transcription.

Other Platforms and OS Trends

  • Comparisons with Siri and Google: Siri supports some offline commands; Google often does parallel local+cloud processing.
  • Apple gets relatively better privacy marks, but some users report being forced to accept cloud dictation notices, leading to distrust.
  • Broader frustration appears with major OSes “neutering” local capabilities in favor of cloud integration, pushing some users back toward Linux.