Privacy Debate Expected Over Smart-Speakers

Fifty-seven percent of smart-speaker owners with children surveyed by NPR and Edison Research earlier this year said that entertaining kids was a reason for purchasing a voice-activated, artificial-intelligence-infused device. But it’s not all newfangled, futuristic fun for young moms and dads. And marketers should take note, reports AdWeek.

According to new Amobee research that was conducted from July 10, 2016, through Aug. 10, 2017, 9 percent of all digital content engagement (views, likes, shares, etc.) around the subject of voice assistants was related to privacy. Thirteen percent of all such online chatter around Amazon Echo at least mentioned kids, while 6 percent was distinctly related to children. During the same period, 10 percent of all Google Home-related digital content engagement was kids related.

It seems likely that such chatter will evolve into a full-fledged debate about safeguarding kids from voice AI and nefarious data collecting. Forty-five million voice-assisted devices are now in use in the U.S., according to eMarketer, and that number will rise to 67 million by 2019.

“For parents, the key issue around smart speakers is safety, meaning they need to know that their children are protected from age-inappropriate content or interactions and that their children’s data is secure and won’t be hacked by a predatory third party,” said Amobee’s Jonathan Cohen, principal brand analyst. “Voice-assistant technology can be a powerful enrichment tool, but the fact that kids can potentially be conversing on these platforms before they’re even able to read or write, means the most stringent parental controls need to be in place.”

Cohen said it’s up to connected brands to take precautions “to make the IoT [Internet of Things] ecosystem family friendly” and up to marketers “to communicate how audience privacy is being properly safeguarded.”

The Federal Trade Commission recommends that brands implement best-in-class tools into their IoT systems and devices from the outset to keep unauthorized users from grabbing other users’ data, and it states that it has third-party partners fully on board to eliminate security leaks.