Do I really need a... Home assistant?

What does it do?

Smart speakers like Google Home (pictured right), and Amazon Echo (below) listen for you speaking to them and access remote voice services to either speak ak back an answer or act t on your command. For or under £150 you get a full-time personal assistant.

Why would I want it?

If you want to know what time a film is on at the local cinema, just ask. Run out of kitchen roll again? Place an order. You can check the time, weather or traffic, play and pause music and set calendar reminders. If you’ve installed smart lightbulbs, you can ask to turn them up or down. It’s like having Jeeves in a can.

What’s the catch?

These boxes listen all the time, and as soon as they think you’re talking to them they start recording everything they hear. If that’s not giving you a slightly creepy feeling, you may not have been paying much attention to the way personal data is being used by tech companies to build marketing profiles and how it can end up in the wrong hands. Naturally, we’re assured that it’s all kept private and secure. But there’s alreadyready been a case where policelice in the US asked to accessess Amazon Echo records (the company initially declined,ined, then agreed), and hackersckers have obtained and releasedased all sorts of personal datata in the past.

So can I do without it?

Yes: the voice assistant on your smartphone already has similar features. But smart speakers are proving popular because of their sheer convenience. If you decide you’d rather not have one, remember that people you visit may do.