AI Feels Creepier Than Ever? Here Are the Products Privacy Experts Actually Buy

You don’t have to be paranoid to notice that AI is getting more invasive. Smart speakers listen for trigger words, websites scrape your data to train models, and facial recognition systems map public spaces. A recent VICE article asked privacy specialists what they personally buy to push back. The answers are surprisingly practical—and they don’t require ditching your smartphone.

What Happened

A confluence of AI capabilities has heightened concern. Voice assistants from Amazon, Google, and Apple now process recordings to improve speech recognition—sometimes with human reviewers. Social media platforms use AI to analyze photos, location data, and browsing habits for targeted advertising. The VICE piece (April 2026) rounded up recommendations from experts at organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. Their advice: adopt a few specific tools rather than trying to go completely dark.

Why It Matters

AI surveillance isn’t hypothetical. Your daily interactions—querying a chatbot, using a smart thermostat, uploading a vacation photo—generate data that can be used to build detailed profiles. Companies selling that data to advertisers is one thing; police accessing facial recognition databases is another. Even if you feel you have nothing to hide, the erosion of privacy standards makes it harder to protect yourself against future misuse. The experts’ picks are designed to reduce exposure without making everyday life impossible.

What Readers Can Do

Here’s what privacy pros actually use, according to the VICE article and broader consensus among digital rights groups:

Browsers and extensions. The Brave browser blocks trackers and fingerprinting by default. It’s free. Firefox with a strict privacy setting works similarly. The experts also recommend uBlock Origin—an ad blocker that stops many tracking scripts. These tools prevent AI-powered ad networks from building a profile from your browsing history.

Messaging apps. Signal is the gold standard for encrypted messaging. It doesn’t collect metadata that could be used to infer your social graph. WhatsApp uses the same protocol, but its parent company Meta can still access some metadata. Experts lean toward Signal because it’s open source and nonprofit.

VPNs. Mullvad VPN costs about €5 per month (roughly $5.50) and doesn’t require an email address—you can pay with cash mailed to Sweden. Unlike many VPNs, Mullvad has a proven no-log policy and has fought court cases to protect user data. A VPN masks your IP address from websites and ISPs, making it harder for AI training data to link activity to your location.

Smart speakers. If you must have a voice assistant, consider a privacy-focused alternative like Mycroft (open source, hardware not widely available) or simply disable the microphone on any smart speaker. The experts in the VICE article noted that most commercial speakers can be set to not store recordings by adjusting account settings. Better yet, unplug it when not in use.

Camera covers and microphone blocks. A $5 sliding webcam cover stops facial recognition from picking up your face. For laptops with built-in microphones, a physical kill switch (if available) or a microphone blocker plug (a headphone-jack dummy) prevents eavesdropping without disabling the device entirely.

Practical steps beyond products. The experts also advised: use a fake name and address for store loyalty cards; opt out of AI training datasets where possible (check privacy settings in Google, Facebook, and ChatGPT); and turn off voice assistant wake words unless you’re actively using them. No single product guarantees full privacy, but layering these tools raises the cost for anyone trying to collect your data.

Sources

  • VICE: “AI Is Getting Creepy—Here’s What Tech Experts Are Buying to Stay Private” (April 2026)
  • Electronic Frontier Foundation: Surveillance Self-Defense guides
  • Mullvad VPN privacy policy and court case documentation
  • Brave software privacy and security reviews
  • Signal technical documentation on encryption and metadata