Apple Suspends Program That Lets Employees Listen to Siri Recordings for Quality Control, Opt Out Option Coming - MacRumors
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Apple Suspends Program That Lets Employees Listen to Siri Recordings for Quality Control, Opt Out Option Coming

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Apple is suspending a Siri program that allows employees to listen to ‌Siri‌ recordings for quality control purposes, reports TechCrunch.

Apple is going to review the process that's currently used, where workers listen to anonymized ‌Siri‌ recordings to determine whether ‌Siri‌ is hearing questions correctly or being activated accidentally.

hey siri
Apple in the future also plans to release a software update that will let ‌Siri‌ users opt out of having their ‌Siri‌ queries included in this evaluation process, called grading.

"We are committed to delivering a great Siri experience while protecting user privacy," Apple said in a statement to TechCrunch. "While we conduct a thorough review, we are suspending Siri grading globally. Additionally, as part of a future software update, users will have the ability to choose to participate in grading."

The decision to suspend the program and offer an opt-out option comes following a report from The Guardian that shared details gleaned from one of the contractors working on evaluating ‌Siri‌ queries.

The employee expressed concern with Apple's lack of disclosure about the human oversight and said that contractors who work on the program have overhead confidential medical information, drug deals, recordings of couples having sex, and other private details from accidental ‌Siri‌ activations.

When The Guardian report came out, Apple confirmed that a small number of anonymized ‌Siri‌ requests are analyzed for the purpose of improving ‌Siri‌ and dictation. While Apple anonymizes ‌Siri‌ data that's evaluated for quality control and ‌Siri‌ improvement, its current privacy policy and security documents do not explicitly mention human oversight.

Tag: Siri Guide

Top Rated Comments

ds2000 Avatar
ds2000
87 months ago
So long as it is actually anonymized, I don't really care
Score: 40 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tgwaste Avatar
tgwaste
87 months ago
Stuff like this should be Opt In not Opt Out.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lone Deranger Avatar
Lone Deranger
87 months ago
Thank god for whistle blowers and journalists. Imagine all the **** corporations would be able to get away with without having the public eye shine on their activities.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C
CarpalMac
87 months ago
So long as it is Apple, I don't really care
Changed that to reflect the sentiment of the ADL. Any other company reported on here doing this would have righteous, vitriolic hate thrown its way by the paragraph load.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A
alexhardaker
87 months ago
“When The Guardian report came out, Apple confirmed that a small number of anonymized Siri requests are analyzed for the purpose of improving Siri and dictation. While Apple anonymizes Siri data that's evaluated for quality control and Siri improvement, its current privacy policy and security documents do not explicitly mention human oversight.“

When I read their policies (after their new policy pages came out), I took it to mean that they reviewed them. I don’t understand the shock behind this. How else are they meant to be improved if they aren’t listened to by other people? I’m assuming the contact info is only used when you say “Hey Siri, call my dad”. If it takes that stuff constantly no matter what, then that’s a bit of a concern.

It’s good they’re letting people opt out of it. That should’ve been there from day one
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
fairuz Avatar
fairuz
87 months ago
So long as it is actually anonymized, I don't really care
You might say something that identifies you. I don't know how they can anonymize this.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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