If you just ask those questions straight up, you’ll get results from Canstar and Finder. However, if you preface those requests with “Hey Google, Talk to Real Life Insurance” after connecting it to your Real Life Insurance account, your answers will become more specific and tailored to what Real Life Insurance wants you to know. This sounds helpful, but do you really want to invite an insurance company to monitor a microphone in your home? What kind of data might they glean from the partnership, and could it affect your premiums?

Real Life Insurance says it doesn't store conversations that are linked to individuals. But the insurance industry is famous for raising premiums whenever possible.

Call someone while your phone is locked

If you have a Pixel 3, the Google Assistant can hear you summon it and place a call to one of your contacts even when your phone is locked.

This is something Apple users have long hated. Just the other week I had a former friend accidentally call me when Siri misunderstood a word before saying “call Alice”, and I overheard stuff I probably shouldn’t have.

Fortunately this will only happen on the Pixel after you've turned on the appropriate setting. Don’t turn on that setting.

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Address the household

Remember in The Nanny when Niles and Mr Sheffield would use the intercom system to communicate when Niles was in the kitchen? This is like that, only more annoying. If you have multiple Google Home devices, you can call out "Hey Google, broadcast..." to send your voice blasting out of every speaker in the house.

There’s nothing inherently bad about this one, it can just be super annoying depending on who’s in your household. Better not tell the kids about it.

Anything sensitive, at all

One of the “fun” things about Google Assistant is that it saves and stores a recording of everything you ask it. While it’s not yet known whether recordings from your smart home devices are permissible in court, it’s fair to say that they’re probably permissible in break ups and domestic arguments, especially if you're lax on your account security.

So maybe think carefully before asking your Google Home for alternatives to Ashley Madison, telling it to call or message your secret boyfriend, or requesting it cast videos that may out proclivities you'd prefer to keep to yourself.