Ask HN: Where is a local (no cloud audio) voice assistant useful?

3 takuya_h 3 7/29/2025, 3:18:00 PM

We're exploring a fully local voice assistant (wake word -> ASR -> LLM -> TTS, all on-device). No audio or transcripts ever leave the device.

Context: Alexa ended a niche "Do Not Send Voice Recordings" (local-processing) option on Mar 28, 2025; it had long processed most requests in the cloud, and that continues. You can still choose not to save recordings after processing.

To be clear: our device may periodically fetch non-voice data (e.g., weather/traffic). And on user command (e.g., send an email), it may call user-selected APIs/tools, sending only the necessary structured fields, not audio or transcripts.

No sales and no public link. I'm trying to learn if there's real demand and where.

Short, blunt answers welcome:

1. Experience: In the last 12 months, did you disable, avoid, or remove a voice assistant? (yes/no) If yes, one line reason (e.g., privacy, company policy/compliance, recognition/answer accuracy, false wakes, latency).

2. Context & scale: Where did you use or plan to use it (e.g., home, meeting rooms/offices, hotels, cars, healthcare, government/police), and roughly at what scale (# rooms, devices, or users)?

3. Alternative & outcome: What did you use instead (e.g., tablet, app, local-only assistant, manual), and did it meet the need? (yes/mostly/no)

4. Comments: Any other relevant detail (even one line) is welcome.

Comments (3)

takuya_h · 1d ago

Why I'm asking: not to debate the news. Just gauging where (if anywhere) a no cloud audio assistant is actually useful. I'll post a brief takeaways summary in 24 - 48h.

Sources about Alexa

- AP: Alexa ended the optional local‑processing setting on Mar 28, 2025; affected 3 US‑English Echo models; <0.03% usage; cloud processing since then; "don't save" still available. [https://apnews.com/article/amazon-privacy-echo-7fb3c19fa7f66...]

- The Verge (with Amazon comment). [https://www.theverge.com/news/630049/amazon-echo-discontinue...]

- TechCrunch summary. [https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/15/amazons-echo-will-send-all...]

(Optional) Quick reply template:

- Experience: Disable/avoid/remove (12m): [yes/no] - reason

- Context & scale: [home/offices/hotels/cars/healthcare/gov]; [~# rooms/devices/users]

- Alternative & outcome: [tablet/app/local-only/manual]; met need? [yes/mostly/no]

- Comments:

yummy125 · 1d ago

To 1., no but let me put comments. I have been using Alexa for over five years, but I don't think the experience is particularly good. Compared to the latest generative AI, the responses are not very intelligent, and if possible, I would prefer to avoid sending all the audio from my room to the cloud.

takuya_h · 1d ago

Thanks!

Current Situation: 5+ years on Alexa; not great vs current LLMs, and you'd prefer no cloud audio (but haven't stopped using it).

Hypothesis: a few core habits keep it on.

What are your top 3 most frequent tasks on Alexa right now?