Law enforcement, privacy advocates grapple with brave new cyber world of AI assistants

Alexa, the voice assistant built into the Amazon Echo, is one of many artificially intelligent (AI) personal assistants being deployed by technology companies to help consumers manage their homes and schedules. Amazon's gadget, which is quickly emerging as a strong rival to Apple's Siri and Google's Assistant, was a big hit at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Yet as a recent murder case illustrates, AI assistants are creating thorny legal and privacy questions that legal and cybersecurity experts are scrambling to understand. Because virtual assistants rely on microphones that, in some cases, may be continuously recording and sending information, that trove of information creates a delicate balance between law enforcement requests, corporate strategy and individual privacy rights. In 2015, an Arkansas man was found dead in a hot tub, and investigators issued a warrant to Amazon, requesting the company turn over audio recordings and information captured by an Echo smart speaker owned by the suspect.