How to ask Google to delete conversations you didn’t want it to hear – The Verge, The Verge

Talking with Google Assistant can be a handy way to get answers to questions, run your smart home, or ask for the weather. But every once in awhile, the Assistant might reply to a question you didn’t ask, or it might accidentally record a snippet of a conversation you didn’t want it to hear.

Pretty much everything you do while signed into your Google account on a device is stored by Google, so it’s understandable that you might not want Google to have recordings of conversations you’re not explicitly asking for Assistant’s help with. Especially afterAmazon,Apple,Google, andMicrosoftall got caught earlier this year using contractors to listen to voice recordings captured by their virtual assistants, some of which were captured accidentally and involved sensitive private information.

But there’s a simple command to have Google delete the last thing you said to it: just say “Hey Google, that wasn’t for you,” and Google Assistant will delete the last message you asked it, asnoted byDroid Life. I tested it, and it appeared to work as expected. I asked Google Assistant what the weather was, and that showed up onMy Activity pagefor my account. When I followed up by saying that recording wasn’t for Assistant, my question about the weather had disappeared from the page.

according to aGoogle support page, you can also say the following phrases to delete recordings over certain time periods:“Hey Google, delete my last conversation.”

.Similarly, you canask Amazon’s Alexato delete recordings of your voice, though you have to open the settings in the Alexa app and turn on “Enable Deletion by Voice” to do so . Once that’s on, you can say “Alexa, delete what I just said” to delete the last thing you asked it or “Alexa, delete everything I said today” to delete recordings from that day. You can also delete recordings individually, in batches, or set up automatic deletions using the Alexa app or on your Alexa Privacy page.********************************************************Read More