12 May Alexa, Enter My Billable Time Please

The ABA Journal reports that Amazon’s Alexa-enabled artificial intelligence devices now can help attorneys, accountants and other timekeepers keep track of their billable time. According to the story, Thomson Reuters has a new assistant that can allow users to simply speak to Alexa and record time. It only works on the systems that Thomson Reuters is offering.

The article further addresses the issues that many using the Amazon and similar devices have had with security and confidentiality. For example, a murdered woman’s FitBit record was recently used to prove she was not at home when her husband said a third person came and killed her, potentially implicating the husband. My simple advice to all: if you’re using a device or going online, assume anyone can see everything you do.

Of course in professional service firms confidentiality is key. As the article notes, in some criminal cases, prosecutors have begun asking for records kept on Alexa devices. To me it’s not much different than the search history on your web browser. Maybe Amazon should offer an “erase” feature to delete prior recordings and history. I wonder how hard that would be.