Apple apologizes for having contractors listen to Siri recordings

Apple is apologizing following reports that contractors were listening to users' Siri recordings, saying it fell short of its "ideals."
The company on Wednesday issued this apology while announcing updates to its audio review policies, reports The Verge. The Guardian reported in July that in reviewing some Siri audio to improve the virtual assistant, "contractors regularly hear confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having sex." The fact that humans might listen to audio recorded by Siri wasn't being clearly disclosed to Apple users. Apple at the time said that only a small amount of Siri requests are analyzed in this way.
Apple now says that after reviewing this program, which it previously suspended, "we realize we haven't been fully living up to our high ideals, and for that we apologize." It plans to resume a Siri audio review program, but going forward, customers will have to opt in, and only Apple employees, not contractors, can listen to Siri audio samples. Apple also says it will work to delete any recordings from when Siri is accidentally triggered and won't retain audio recordings of Siri interactions by default. The company is hoping that users do opt into this "knowing that Apple respects their data and has strong privacy controls in place."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Apple certainly wasn't alone in facing criticism over reports of human contractors listening to users' audio that could sometimes include sensitive information, with similar complaints being lodged at Google over its Assistant and Amazon over its Alexa. Amazon earlier this month started allowing users to opt out of human review of Alexa recordings, while Google, like Apple, paused human review of Assistant audio. Apple says it will restart its audio review program with the release of a software update this fall.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
What to know before turning to AI for financial advice
the explainer It can help you crunch the numbers — but it might also pocket your data
-
Book reviews: 'The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Affliction—and a Search for Relief' and 'Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run'
Feature The search for a headache cure and revisiting Springsteen's 'Born to Run' album on its 50th anniversary
-
Keith McNally' 6 favorite books that have ambitious characters
Feature The London-born restaurateur recommends works by Leo Tolstoy, John le Carré, and more
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine
Speed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year