Apple has now responded to recent allegations around Siri and its usage without user permissions, announcing in a statement that it refutes claims of allowing advertisers to target users based on data collected through its Siri voice assistant. The statement was issued on Wednesday, and aims to clarify the functionality of Siri, its privacy protocols, and the company’s stance on data usage following a $95 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit.
“At Apple, we are committed to protecting user data, and our products and features are built from the ground up with innovative privacy technologies and techniques. Privacy is a foundational part of the design process, driven by principles that include data minimization, on-device intelligence, transparency and control, and strong security protections that work together to provide users with incredible experiences and peace of mind. This applies to all of our products and services, including Siri, which has been engineered to protect user privacy and is the most private digital assistant,” Apple announced in an official statement.
The allegations are nothing new, stemming from accusations that Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant, recorded user conversations without consent and shared these recordings with third parties, resulting in targeted advertisements. According to the plaintiffs, they received ads for products they had only mentioned in casual conversations with others – precise up to the very brands mentioned in those conversations.
The class-action lawsuit, filed in 2019, alleged that Apple’s handling of Siri data violated user privacy and led to unlawful recordings. At that time, reports revealed that Apple employed human contractors to review and grade anonymized Siri recordings. Unsurprisingly, this reveal triggered a significant backlash and Apple issued an apology and discontinued the use of third-party contractors for Siri recordings.
Eventually, Apple settled the case by agreeing to pay a sum of $95 million, though the Cupertino-headquartered company denied any wrongdoing on its part or the allegations of misusing user data (especially by using the user data to create marketing profiles of users. “Apple has never used Siri data to build marketing profiles, never made it available for advertising, and never sold it to anyone for any purpose. We are constantly developing technologies to make Siri even more private, and will continue to do so.”
The iPhone-maker went on to clarify that interactions with Siri are mostly processed on the user’s device to minimize data transmission to its servers. When server-side processing is necessary, data is anonymized using a random identifier to ensure it cannot be linked back to individual users. Additionally, audio recordings are retained only if users explicitly opt-in for Siri improvement programs, and these recordings are used exclusively for that purpose – the AI assistant is said to use as “little data as possible,” the company noted.
