Don't know the author or anything about him. He quoted a poll that I did not participate in or research the details on. I simply posted a link that Google AI provided when I looked at the feed. I see these same types of articles daily from standard news sources, but this was the first one that claimed to have research to back it up rather than somewhat of an oped by the author.
Just today I had 2 more articles from 2 separate authors and 2 separate news organizations (pcmag.com and washingtonpost.com). I wouldn't consider those fringe sources. Then again, I wouldn't consider CNN, the New York Post, or most of the other sources I've seen posted here as fringe. But no, I have not checked the credentials of the many authors who have written similar articles making up data concerns about cloud based smart speakers.