Snips AIR Is a Voice Assistant That Takes Your Privacy Seriously

Snips AIR is a voice assistant that is “Private by Design” — an ethos that sets it apart from most competing voice assistants. Unlike Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple HomePod, Snips AIR will never collect data about you and your family. Other companies sell your data or use it to target you with tailored ads, but the Snips team is guaranteeing their commitment to protecting your privacy.

You don’t have to take them at their word on that either, because the system itself is proof. When you ask your Amazon Echo a question, it’s not processed on the device itself. Instead it’s sent to the cloud, where Natural Language Processing is used to understand your request so a response can be given by Alexa. Snips AIR, on the other, does all of that inside the device itself, so what it records is never uploaded anywhere. Even better, the Snips software is open source, so those claims can all be verified.

Right now, Snips is just that: software that can be run on a Raspberry Pi, Debian, Android, and iOS. However, Snips AIR is a hardware device concept that’s in works. It consists of the AIR Base, and the battery-powered AIR Satellite. The Base handles processing, and multiple Satellites can be added throughout your home so you can interact with Snips in any room. The devices communicate with each other over a mesh network called AIRnet, so your voice isn’t uploaded to the internet as it’s transferred between devices. There is no word on a release date yet, but Snips is funding through an ICO for their Snips AIR Token.