 So by now, I'm sure most of you have some sort of smart device in your home, an Amazon Echo or a Google Home. They're great. They work really well. But the other day I was poking around my Google account and I came across this weird clip. Okay Google, how tall is Sleeping Giant Mountain? Turns out Google Assistant has been recording all of the conversations I've ever had with it. That's weird. I don't remember most of these conversations, yet here they are and Google hasn't forgotten. Google says it's storing this data to improve the Assistant's voice model. But what else are they using it for? And can we delete this data? Actually yes, and it's pretty simple. We already know that Google uses a lot of your data for convenience features, like the types of YouTube videos you like to watch, your location history and maps, or auto fill in Chrome. So if you open the My Activity page instead of your Google account, you'll come across a buffet of personal data, including everything we mentioned before, your Google Assistant searches and the exact location and time of all of your queries. This might scare you at first, but keep in mind that asking for location-centric data like what's the weather inherently involves having to know where you are. This is a lot of sensitive data and even though Google Home hasn't had any voice breaches like Amazon Alexa, it is worth knowing that you can still delete everything. So let's delete my voice recordings from My Activity. First go to myactivity.google.com. Also just so you know, most of these steps are similar on mobile. And from there you're going to find all of your previous search history from the beginning of time to present day. And from here I can filter by voice products. So I want to delete just voice recordings from my Google account. Here's the filter and here's everything from yesterday. Earlier I asked, what's my name? And from here I can click on the hamburger icon, select delete, and the query is permanently deleted from my account purportedly. From there I can also go to another query from 11.09 a.m. the same day, click on the hamburger icon, click details, and I can get some more specific details as to what device I used, what app it was used with, and even location if it's pinged. I can still go on the hamburger icon over here and select delete and that's that. It should come as no surprise that Google has this sort of data on you. After all it's how its ads and services work. Right now there's no telling if deleting this data however affects the way that these services work for you. The only thing we have to go on is the pop-up that says deleted data can't be recovered, which leaves me under the impression that deleted data from my Google account is permanent. But without official confirmation from Google I'm skeptical. Well having access to your recordings is great if you want stricter control on your Google data you also have to be able to face the truth. That if you're going to use a machine that relies on voice commands to carry out functions you need to be able to give it those voice recordings in order for it to improve and to function. Otherwise turn off the lights yourself. Thanks for watching. Let me know what your favorite smart assistant is in the comments and be sure to stay tuned to youtube.com forward slash the verge for more videos.
 So by now, I'm sure most of you have some sort of smart device in your home, an Amazon
 Echo or a Google Home.
 They're great.
 They work really well.
 But the other day I was poking around my Google account and I came across this weird clip.
 Okay Google, how tall is Sleeping Giant Mountain?
 Turns out Google Assistant has been recording all of the conversations I've ever had with
 it.
 That's weird.
 I don't remember most of these conversations, yet here they are and Google hasn't forgotten.
 Google says it's storing this data to improve the Assistant's voice model.
 But what else are they using it for?
 And can we delete this data?
 Actually yes, and it's pretty simple.
 We already know that Google uses a lot of your data for convenience features, like the
 types of YouTube videos you like to watch, your location history and maps, or auto fill
 in Chrome.
 So if you open the My Activity page instead of your Google account, you'll come across
 a buffet of personal data, including everything we mentioned before, your Google Assistant
 searches and the exact location and time of all of your queries.
 This might scare you at first, but keep in mind that asking for location-centric data
 like what's the weather inherently involves having to know where you are.
 This is a lot of sensitive data and even though Google Home hasn't had any voice breaches
 like Amazon Alexa, it is worth knowing that you can still delete everything.
 So let's delete my voice recordings from My Activity.
 First go to myactivity.google.com.
 Also just so you know, most of these steps are similar on mobile.
 And from there you're going to find all of your previous search history from the beginning
 of time to present day.
 And from here I can filter by voice products.
 So I want to delete just voice recordings from my Google account.
 Here's the filter and here's everything from yesterday.
 Earlier I asked, what's my name?
 And from here I can click on the hamburger icon, select delete, and the query is permanently
 deleted from my account purportedly.
 From there I can also go to another query from 11.09 a.m. the same day, click on the
 hamburger icon, click details, and I can get some more specific details as to what device
 I used, what app it was used with, and even location if it's pinged.
 I can still go on the hamburger icon over here and select delete and that's that.
 It should come as no surprise that Google has this sort of data on you.
 After all it's how its ads and services work.
 Right now there's no telling if deleting this data however affects the way that these services
 work for you.
 The only thing we have to go on is the pop-up that says deleted data can't be recovered,
 which leaves me under the impression that deleted data from my Google account is permanent.
 But without official confirmation from Google I'm skeptical.
 Well having access to your recordings is great if you want stricter control on your Google
 data you also have to be able to face the truth.
 That if you're going to use a machine that relies on voice commands to carry out functions
 you need to be able to give it those voice recordings in order for it to improve and
 to function.
 Otherwise turn off the lights yourself.
 Thanks for watching.
 Let me know what your favorite smart assistant is in the comments and be sure to stay tuned
 to youtube.com forward slash the verge for more videos.