Apple announces changes to its Siri audio clip review process, making it opt-in for users, bringing the work in-house, and saying it won't retain recordings

The top line news is that Apple is making changes to the way that Siri audio review, or ‘grading’ works across all of its devices.

TechCrunch 2019-08-29 Matthew Panzarino

Context & Ripple Effects

After suspending Siri grading in early August amid privacy backlash over contractors reviewing queries without explicit consent, Apple has now detailed the replacement: audio review becomes opt-in, moves in-house, and recordings won't be retained. The suspension-to-policy arc in under a month shows how quickly voice-assistant quality-control practices became a public trust issue.

Apple is not alone in retreating — Amazon announced its own opt-out for human review of Alexa recordings within days of Apple's suspension, citing the moves by Apple and Google. The industry's default of human review of voice data is being dismantled in public, company by company.

First-order effects

Siri users now control whether their audio is reviewed at all, and Apple takes the grading work off contractors and onto its own staff, ending the third-party exposure that triggered the backlash.

Second-order effects

Rivals face the same template: Amazon's opt-out concession shows that once one assistant makes human review consensual, the others' silent-review defaults look untenable and invite the same scrutiny.

Third-order effects

If the pattern holds, voice-assistant quality control migrates from outsourced human listening toward consent-gated review and, eventually, on-device processing — Apple's later move to process Siri audio on-device by default points in exactly that direction.

The trend: Voice assistants are being rebuilt around user consent and on-device processing, with human review of recordings shifting from an industry default to an explicit, revocable permission.

Discussion

@tim Tim Bradshaw on x
This Siri privacy thing does feel like the most full-throated apology Apple has made since the Maps debacle back in 2012 (unlike the somewhat passive aggressive apologies for things like Mac keyboards and iPhone battery issues) https://www.ft.com/...
@panzer Matthew Panzarino on x
Apple is making significant changes to the way Siri grading works and, most importantly, it is turning it OFF by default, making it an opt-in process. https://techcrunch.com/...
@disconnectme Disconnect on x
So Apple fired the contractors it paid to listen to your private conversations Siri recorded without your knowledge. But what about the executives who okayed these practices in the first place? https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
@nthylstrup Nanna Thylstrup on x
“I'm relieved this information came out,” said one former contractor who asked to remain anonymous due to a still-active non-disclosure agreement, “Discussions around ethics in this job was a constant between workers, but we don't know how to bring it up.” https://www.theguardian…
@backlon Dieter Bohn on x
Apple was the only assistant company that didn't offer opt-outs for voice recordings. Bad. Now it has apologized and me opt-out the default, jumping ahead of Alexa and Google. Good: https://www.theverge.com/...
@alexhern Alex Hern on x
But it remains super frustrating to see this briefed out under embargo to other outlets, while Apple didn't even do us the courtesy of sending a note to let us know it had gone live. If they're so sorry about their mistake, why is the Guardian being punished for revealing it?
@can Can Duruk on x
“Privacy Fundamentalism” as a slander will not age well. https://twitter.com/...
@file511 @file511 on x
“...people listening to audio Siri recordings as part of our Siri quality evaluation process. We heard their concerns, immediately suspended human grading of Siri requests, and began a thorough review of our practices and policies.” https://support.apple.com/...
@marcoarment Marco Arment on x
Apple's Siri-grading changes are good, but I'd like to see them go a bit further. Saving audio should be opt-in, and is. 👍 But saving transcripts is still mandatory if you want to use Siri at all. On-by-default is fine, but it should have an opt-out. https://www.apple.com/... htt…
@stevekovach Steve Kovach on x
Guardian reports the contractors who were listening to and grading Siri recordings have been fired https://www.theguardian.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@neilcybart Neil Cybart on x
Apple apologizes for shortcomings in Siri's privacy protection. Three changes: 1) Audio recordings of Siri interactions won't be retained. 2) Users have to opt-in to have Siri recordings sampled. 3) Apple will no longer use contractors for process. https://www.apple.com/...156700…
@neilcybart Neil Cybart on x
In a nutshell, Apple will once again use humans to listen to a sampling of Siri recordings (in an effort to improve Siri). However, users have to opt-in and Apple employees will be the ones listening.
@backlon Dieter Bohn on x
assistant company that didn't offer opt-outs for voice recordings. Bad. Now it has apologized and made opt-out the default, jumping ahead of Alexa and Google. Good: https://www.theverge.com/...
@acedtect Tom Merritt on x
Apple making Siri recording review opt in, excellent. Going the extra mile to take on liability for employees by bringing them in house, exemplary. Two good moves. https://techcrunch.com/...

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