Apple Suspends Program That Lets Employees Listen to Siri Recordings for Quality Control, Opt Out Option Coming
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.
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.
Popular Stories
Apple's AirPods have been credited with saving a woman's life after a potentially fatal fall, People reports.
When a 60-year-old florist in New Jersey tripped and hit her head in her studio, she lost consciousness and awoke heavily bleeding. With nobody around to call for help, she realized she had her AirPods in, and used a "Hey Siri" command to call 911. An operator was able to stay on the ...
Apple is working on a number of new products that are set to launch this fall, and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that it will be "the widest array" of new devices that Apple has introduced in its history.
In his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman explains that Apple is working on four new flagship iPhones (iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Max, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max), an updated low-end Ma...
Apple has always emphasized the depth of thought that goes into the design of its products. In the foreword to Designed by Apple in California, a photo book released by the company in 2016, Jony Ive explains how Apple strives "to define objects that appear effortless" and "so simple, coherent and inevitable that there could be no rational alternative."
But every once in a while even Apple...
As we roll into the latter half of January, we're starting to hear more about a potential spring Apple event, which is likely to take place in March or April. There are a number of potential announcements on deck, so an event would be a good opportunity for Apple to get them all out there.
We've also been going back and forth on some iPhone 14 rumors, and we've taken a look at a number of...
AT&T today announced the launch of upgraded AT&T Fiber plans, which support speeds of up to 5 Gigabits for some customers. There are two separate plans, one "2 GIG" plan and one "5 GIG" plan, available to new and existing AT&T Fiber subscribers.
According to AT&T, the new plans are available to nearly 5.2 million customers across 70 metro areas including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, San...
Three months after their launch, the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros continue to experience high demand and seemingly short supply, with shipping dates for both models stretching into multiple weeks in several of Apple's key markets.
In the United States, the baseline 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro chip is estimated to ship in three to four weeks, promising an arrival by at least...
Following months of bleak news about Peloton's "precarious state," including the revelation that it has halted production of its bikes and treadmills, Apple is being floated as a potential buyer of Peloton's troubled fitness business.
Yesterday, CNBC reported that Peloton will temporarily stop production of its connected fitness products due to a "significant reduction" in consumer demand, a ...
Earlier this week, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman tweeted that Apple "will be holding a spring event" to announce a new iPhone SE and other hardware. In a recent edition of his newsletter, Gurman said the event is likely to occur in March or April.
Gurman did not elaborate on what "other hardware" will be announced at Apple's purported spring event, but rumors suggest at least four products are...
Top Rated Comments
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