Google assistant listening to my personal conversation?

[Android Central Question]

I never had holidays displayed on my Google calendar or Google calendar widget. I was arguing with my wife about not knowing what day holidays are when because they aren't on my calendar and I can barely remember what day of the week it is. No more than five minutes later I look at my Google calendar widget on my Pixel 5a and every holiday is marked on my calendar in a turquoise color. I never asked for or changed any settings in that time. Did Google automatically put that in my calendar without permission? I had my phone in my pocket and also a first generation google home nest mini in the room I was talking to my wife in

 

[spARTacus]

I never had holidays displayed on my Google calendar or Google calendar widget. I was arguing with my wife about not knowing what day holidays are when because they aren't on my calendar and I can barely remember what day of the week it is. No more than five minutes later I look at my Google calendar widget on my Pixel 5a and every holiday is marked on my calendar in a turquoise color. I never asked for or changed any settings in that time. Did Google automatically put that in my calendar without permission? I had my phone in my pocket and also a first generation google home nest mini in the room I was talking to my wife in

I am not sure what benefit would exist to google for them to have done that for you. If there isn't a benefit to google in doing it, then would they have done it or even want to have the ability to do it (beyond something like usiing their devices in your life for their ongoing voice recognition research and development, for other possibile future purposes)?

 

[mustang7757]

I'll leave a Link to register so you can communicate here, As a guest account you can only post questions but can't reply.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=409154

 

[J Dubbs]

I never had holidays displayed on my Google calendar or Google calendar widget. I was arguing with my wife about not knowing what day holidays are when because they aren't on my calendar and I can barely remember what day of the week it is. No more than five minutes later I look at my Google calendar widget on my Pixel 5a and every holiday is marked on my calendar in a turquoise color. I never asked for or changed any settings in that time. Did Google automatically put that in my calendar without permission? I had my phone in my pocket and also a first generation google home nest mini in the room I was talking to my wife in

The answer is yes. Try talking about taking a vacation somewhere, and how much a flight would cost and see what pops up. Or buying a certain brand of car. Or a good Italian restaurant in the area. Google's an ad company, other businesses pay them good money to help get things sold. Google's always listening, so I'm not surprised something like your calendar experience happened. They claim that no audio is "saved" unless you use the keyword "Hey Google" or "Okay Google", but I'm sure they would claim the other audio that gets picked up is not being saved because you didn't use the keyword.

It's a running joke about how you mention something around your Android phone, and the next ad you see is coincidentally about that exact topic. Me and my wife have had fun testing it many times

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

The most likely explanation is that they've always been there and you've just neverr noticed before. But the take away here is this, if you're not comfortable with a big tech/advertising company having microphones in your home, then don't pay a big tech/advertising company to put microphones in your home.

 

[spARTacus]

What would be an advertising/revenue hook/benefit to google, by them adjusting a user's calendar view for showing holidays with a different colour? Maybe as related to subtle motivations about spending (ie: advertising also as part of that) around holidays?

 

[L0n3N1nja]

Google Assistant and others like Alexa or Siri need to actively listen so they can respond when you speak to them, unless you happened to say the exact right thing it shouldn't have messed with your calendar.