Marketing company claims to listen to phone and smart speaker conversations for targeted ads

A marketing team with Cox Media Group claims to have the ability to listen to ambient conversations of consumers through embedded microphones in smartphones, smart TVs, and other devices. They call it active listening and claim that it can identify potential customers based on real-time casual conversations. The company's capability and its usage on devices currently in the market remain unclear, but they promote it as a marketing technique fit for the future. The claims have raised skepticism among experts who question the feasibility of such capabilities on smartphones and the methods through which microphones could be accessed.