Google’s new Allo app has been launched with a lot of excitement and expectations and obviously some privacy concerns. On one hand, the app comes with a built-in Google Assistant powered by Google’s AI, capable of helping out with contextual replies (which get better with time) and on the other hand, Google states that conversations won’t be encrypted by default and will be stored indefinitely on Google servers so as to function as intellectual fodder for its AI.

Google said that the users opted to use the incognito mode which offered end-to-end encryption, but the user won’t be able to have Google Assistant partake in those conversations. Google Allo is all about “convenience,” whether it is in the form of contextual responses or whether it is for looking up information that you’d like to share with the person at the other end of your non-encrypted.

Google went through all data generated by users on its services, be it email, Hangouts or even search. This is how it’s able to serve up contextual ads and other nonsense. The very last bastion of privacy has been texting and voice calls and with Allo, we are set to lose out on one of those. If Allo achieves its goal of replacing your default texting app, and even Whatsapp, Google will have access to our private life as well.

The intimate conversations that take place between lovers. Angry messages from a mother to her son, the son’s depressed responses to his elder brother seeking counsel are all to be stored permanently in Google’s server.

By Prakriti Neogi