Apple usually hears confidential conversations on Siri recordings

Apple contractors reportedly listen to the confidential conversations, the users have with Siri, as part of their job to improve the quality of the voice assistant.

According to a report on Guardian, Apple says the data is used to help Siri and dictation better understands what the users say. The recordings include confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having sex.

Speaking to the Guardian, the Apple whistleblower said, “There have been countless instances of recordings featuring private discussions between doctors and patients, business deals, seemingly criminal dealings, sexual encounters and so on. These recordings are accompanied by user data showing location, contact details, and app data.”

Apple does not explicitly disclose this in its consumer-facing documentation; however, a small proportion of the recordings are passed on to the contractors around the world. The contractors are tasked with grading Siri on a number of factors such as accidental activation, appropriate responses, and so on.

Apple responded saying, “A small portion of Siri requests are analysed to improve Siri and dictation. User requests are not associated with the user’s Apple ID. Siri responses are analysed in secure facilities and all reviewers are under the obligation to adhere to Apple’s strict confidentiality requirements.”

The whistleblower explained how sometimes, “you can definitely hear a doctor and patient, talking about the medical history of the patient. Or you’d hear someone, maybe with car engine background noise – you can’t say definitely, but it’s a drug deal … you can definitely hear it happening. And you’d hear, like, people engaging in sexual acts that are accidentally recorded on the pod or the watch.”

Adding further, the informant told the Guardian that the Apple staff were encouraged to report accidental activations “but only as a technical problem”, with no specific procedures to deal with sensitive recordings. “We’re encouraged to hit targets, and get through work as fast as possible. The only function for reporting what you’re listening to seems to be for technical problems. There’s nothing about reporting the content.”