Yes. But some loss of privacy is inevitable when using most modern technology. The devices and applications we've come to rely on for their convenience simply wouldn't be so convenient if they weren't gathering data. Privacy is the trade-off for ease and speed.A voice assistant's reliance on voice recognition and recording technology, in particular, can lead to privacy concerns. Now, as Fingerman explained, "Voice assistants are technically always listening for their wake-word, but they do not record until activated." That said, those recorded segments are often parsed through after the fact by humans, who annotate recordings in order to bolster machine learning. Recorded data may also be linked to individuals. Still, recordings are sent over an encrypted connection. And you can delete recordings by visiting your voice assistant's settings. Amazon Alexa does one better: You can just ask her to delete them for you.Leading tech companies are introducing more and more privacy measures to help consumers feel comfortable bringing smart devices home. Google is figuring out ways to accomplish more computing within the device, rather than exporting work to the cloud. As the big names jostle to establish themselves as privacy-friendly rather than privacy-invasive, we look forward to seeing more user control over voice assistant functionality.