Study Shows Frequency of Accidental Smart Speakers Activations

Smart speakers are susceptible to being activated by non-wake words, according to a new study from Northeastern's Mon(IoT)r Research Group. Apple HomePod and Microsoft Cortana devices accidentally activated the most.

How this study worked: Researchers exposed smart speakers to 125 hours of Netflix content across 12 shows, both comedy (The Office) and not comedy (Big Bang Theory).

The researchers wanted to see which non-wake words activated the speakers. If Michael Scott said "Alexa," then we'd expect Amazon speakers to light up. But if he said anything else and the speaker reacted, that would be considered an accidental activation.

• Worth noting: The researchers repeated the experiment 12 times but found few consistencies.
• My favorite finding: "Gilmore Girls and The Office were responsible for the majority of activations."

Zoom out: Over half of U.S. households own a smart speaker. But devices that capture audio without users' knowledge present serious privacy implications.