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Nope, there’s certainly no CIA spying going on here.
Absolutely not. In fact, don’t even bother asking your Google Home smart speaker about the CIA. But if you do, the stolid little device is going to get defensive. A YouTube clip from someone named Michael Hraba shows the voice assistant‘s jargon-filled answer to “Do you know what the CIA is?”
The question comes two weeks after WikiLeaks claimed to reveal the CIA’s hacking tools, alleging the government agency spied on people by installing malware on their phones, computers and smart TVs. (CNET is unable to verify whether the documents are real or have been altered.) Google Home’s response looked to make it very clear that the talkative tech was safe from CIA spying.
“No government entity, US or otherwise, has direct access to our user’s information. Respect for the privacy and security of data you store with Google underpins our approach to producing data in response to legal requests. You can learn more in Google’s transparency report.”
Its transparency report provides information on requests by government agencies to, among other things, turn over user data and account information.
A Google spokeswoman said the assistant’s response is from a “combination of algorithmically-generated answers,” with responses written by a team to answer specific questions.
If you’re confused by the assistant’s answer, so is a person in the background of the video.
“The hell is she talking about? I’m not even stoned and I don’t understand what she’s talking about,” the voice said in the background. To make matters worse, the voice assistant didn’t even answer the original question, on what the CIA is.
It’s as if somebody asked “Do you know what cookies are?” and you answered with a rant about how you’ve never eaten sugar.
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Updated at 9:48 a.m. PT: To include comments from Google.
