To improve the Skype translation system, Microsoft uses independent workers. They can, as part of their work, access confidential dialogues.
Imagine that someone teleworking, in their pajamas in front of their computer, could listen to a conversation you had on Skype, or even make fun of it with their friends. This is the situation in which some Microsoft providers may find themselves, reveals this August 7th Motherboard.
Like Google, Amazon and Alexa, the Redmond company is also listening to recordings of Skype user conversations to improve the real-time translation system that the software integrates.
Help the AI to progress
Specifically, this person who is not an employee of Microsoft, listening to bits of conversion (usually 5 to 10 seconds, sometimes more) and chooses the most appropriate translation among those proposed. This system, common in the field of artificial intelligence, allows the latter to learn to improve gradually.
Microsoft explains that the Skype Terms of Service state that a conversation can be listened to to improve the service, but at no time does the company indicate that a human can access it. This also poses a security problem, since the Motherboard source was able to extract conversations and provide them as evidence to the US site.
Delicate and private conversations
Like the other three companies already pinned, conversations sometimes contain sensitive topics: romantic relationships, confidences, and even requests for pornographic content addressed to Cortana, Microsoft's voice assistant.
For now, the company does not intend to give up this system and indicates that sound clips are anonymized. A few days ago, Apple and Google had announced stop - at least temporarily - this practice. The Cupertino company had even indicated that it would now require the approval of its users to continue to do so.
Source: Motherboard
