Starting a conversation with Siri is a culture common with iPhone users. What is so great about this digital assistant? Find out more on why Apple chose the name Siri and how it even came about here.
Before today, Apple was the only assistant company that didn't offer any opt-outs for voice recordings. It has decided to opt out now making them better than Alexa and Google. Siri's privacy concerns have been raised for some time now as it was reported contractors listened to users' recordings and had access to personal information. The company admitted to listening to some audio recordings to make Siri better after a formal apology. “We realize we haven’t been fully living up to our high ideals, and for that, we apologize,” Apple’s statement reads. Now they are sticking to just using computer-generated transcripts to improve Siri.
First, by default, we will no longer retain audio recordings of Siri interactions. We will continue to use computer-generated transcripts to help Siri improve.
Second, users will be able to opt in to help Siri improve by learning from the audio samples of their requests. We hope that many people will choose to help Siri get better, knowing that Apple respects their data and has strong privacy controls in place. Those who choose to participate will be able to opt out at any time.
Third, when customers opt in, only Apple employees will be allowed to listen to audio samples of the Siri interactions. Our team will work to delete any recording which is determined to be an inadvertent trigger of Siri.
Apple isn't the only company known to pay contractors to review audio recordings with their digital assistant. The Guardian reported that contractors were paid to review up to 1000 voice recordings per day per person. As a result, Apple has decided to suspend this program to protect the privacy of its users. In today's announcement, it's clear that the policy has been suspended for good and the company promises to delete previous recordings they have. Should the company resume this program, it will be based on a new policy and that will take effect in the next software update. Apple won't keep your audio or data unless you decide to opt-in and this will be viewed by only Apple employees - according to today's announcement.