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Android P App Actions Is Scary and Huge Privacy Violation

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Re: Android P App Actions Is Scary and Huge Privacy Violation

#3
post #2

Machine learning is happening locally on device.... Not being sent back to server...

I have no basis to disagree, but I'd love a source.

The documentation right now [0] is pretty light on how this works. I watched the IO presentation[1] on App Actions and it was also unclear.

While semantic intents exist locally, it is unclear where Google maps from a user action back to that semantic intent, and many of their examples involve online google services (like Google Search and Google Assistant). They also say the intent must be registered in a Google database.

Look at the slide within the video at 23:30 specifically.

[0] https://developer.android.com/guide/actions/

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu3L6DxUBRA

Re: Android P App Actions Is Scary and Huge Privacy Violation

#4
post #2

Machine learning is happening locally on device.... Not being sent back to server...

I have no basis to disagree, but I'd love a source. The documentation right now [0] is pretty light on how this works. I watched the IO presentation[1] on App Actions and it was also unclear. While semantic intents exist locally, it is unclear where Google maps from a user action back to that semantic intent, and many of their examples involve online google services (like Google Search and Google Assistant). They als…

[deleted]

Re: Android P App Actions Is Scary and Huge Privacy Violation

#6
post #2

Machine learning is happening locally on device.... Not being sent back to server...

I have no basis to disagree, but I'd love a source. The documentation right now [0] is pretty light on how this works. I watched the IO presentation[1] on App Actions and it was also unclear. While semantic intents exist locally, it is unclear where Google maps from a user action back to that semantic intent, and many of their examples involve online google services (like Google Search and Google Assistant). They als…

The information from that App Actions session does make things a little confusing. In the All About Android podcast, Stephanie Saad Cuthbertson from the Android team says that the suggestions are done with on-device machine learning [0] (around 19:00).

My best guess right now is the contextual suggested actions (ex. call a specific person) that show up in the launcher are done with on-device machine learning as she says, but more generic actions (ex. open the dialer to call somebody, not a specific person) that show up in search results would be done with something like Firebase App Indexing and would require those actions to be submitted to Google.

[0] https://www.twit.tv/shows/all-about-android/episodes/368