It is no secret that Voice Search is indeed one of the most impressive capabilities of Google, permitting users to ask nearly anything under the sun with the use of their natural languages.
Quite a few users of Google's voice search function, though, were quite shocked upon knowing the company has been (quietly) recording their voice searches and keeping an audio log of them.
Good thing the company allows its users to listen back ... and delete them.
"You're in control of your Google Account settings, and you can change them at any time." says the Google Activity controls
How To Find Recordings
1. Users should head over to Google's Voice and Audio Activity page log into their accounts, if they haven't already done so yet.
2. Users can see on this page a log of their past actions or searches. Interestingly, the list also includes the date users made their voice searches.
How To Delete Items One At A Time
1. Upon logging into their accounts, users should check the box for every item they wish to delete from the list.
2. Click the Delete button which can be found at the top of the page.
How To Delete Items At Once
1. When users are already signed into their accounts, users should click the Menu option at the topmost part of the page.
2. Click Delete Options and tick the Advanced Option.
3. When selecting date, choose All Time.
4. Click the Delete button twice.
Google has yet to reveal its reasons as to why it is storing the actual voice recordings of its user's searches.
A possibility exists, however, that the company is using the recordings to better inform its natural language processing algorithms which can probably help in figuring out the differences between a mid-Atlantic accent or a Brooklyn accent, for instance. Or it is also possible, according to the report, which Google is in the works of developing its very first "fully-functional artificially intelligent robot."
In June, the company introduced a new portal for all the Google-account related activities, which it dubbed Web and App Activity.
Through this added functionality, users can manage their privacy settings and check out what they have searched for.
