The good news is there are a couple of major alternatives you can use that have better privacy settings. The settings aren't necessarily ideal in every case, as you're still talking into a microphone that's connected to the internet. But they're still better than what Amazon is doing. Here are your options.

Amazon is removing a key privacy feature from its Echo smart speakers — and Alexa+ is to blame. On March 28, Amazon will remove the ability to have Alexa process your voice requests locally, and will start sending all of your recordings to the cloud to be processed there, rather on your Echo device itself.

Amazon is mandating cloud-based processing for Echo voice commands, removing local storage and disabling Alexa’s voice ID to expand its generative AI capabilities.