Apple is now making changes to how Siri does audio reviews, or what the company calls "grading." The change will work across all of its devices by making audio review an opt-in process, rolling in the next software update.
Apple will also get rid of contractors and now will only allow employees to review any of this opt-in audio following the backlash regarding user privacy. In a blog post, the Cupertino tech giant outlined some Siri privacy details that have been left out before, as they were previously detailed in security white papers.
Apple has issued an apology:
"As a result of our review, we realize we haven't been fully living up to our high ideals, and for that we apologize."
The company promises that it will now only use anonymized computer-generated written texts of users' request to feed its machine learning systems with data. Transcripts from Siri recordings may be subject to reviews by Apple employees.
Google and Amazon were also caught in the middle of a controversy when it was revealed that their assistants were being helped by third-party contractors. Both companies have also made changes to their policy.
Apple's grading process will undergo changes as well, with Apple noting that "the names of the devices and rooms you set up in the Home app will only be accessible by the reviewer if the request being graded involves controlling devices in the home."
According to Apple, around 0.2% of all Siri requests have been graded. However, there are 15 billion requests from Siri each month, meaning a staggering number of users had been affected by this breach of privacy.
A report from The Guardian earlier this week claimed that Apple had already started letting go some of its employees in Europe, hinting that these employees were the contractors that the company had hired. Siri's FAQ about its privacy controls is now published, which you can view in full here.
Both FAQ and Apple's new blog post detail guidelines on how Apple performs its grading process, how Siri privacy is preserved, and how the company is limiting the data given to its reviewers. The company won't be using contractors any longer.
The changes that Apple has promised has restored trust among users now that Siri is more privacy-focused. This experience should result in better transparency from the company, especially when humans get involved in certain processes in which sensitive info is handled.
