Apple Refutes Siri Privacy Breach as it Makes a $95 Million Class Action Settlement

Apple has clarified its position on the sale of data collected by its AI voice assistant, Siri. According to Reuters, the big tech says Apple’s Siri privacy has been maintained and that no user data has been sold to third parties.

Siri Privacy Lawsuit

Apple made these clarifications after it settled a lawsuit where it was accused of breaching the privacy of its customers. Last week, Apple made a class action settlement amounting to $95 million for a lawsuit in which it was accused of recording private conversations.

The plaintiffs claimed that the big tech made the recordings after they activated the AI assistant unintentionally. Plaintiffs also claimed that Siri disclosed the conversations to third parties including advertisers. The voice assistants are designed to react when people use trigger words like ‘Hey Siri’.

Apple’s Response

Apple denied the allegations made by plaintiffs in the Siri class action lawsuit and did not acknowledge them in the settlement it made last week.

“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,” The big tech said.

Apple released the statement following reactions on social media as users interpreted the settlement to be an acknowledgment that the Siri privacy breach allegations were true. The lawsuit settlement will see tens of millions of Apple device users receive a maximum of $20 for each Siri-enabled gadget they own. These could be Apple Watches or iPhones.

Advancing AI Assistant Privacy

Apple’s statement highlighted that there are specific features in its products that require real-time inputs for the company’s servers. The big tech said that these are the only situations where its AI assistant uses minimal user data to generate accurate results.

“Apple does not retain audio recordings of Siri interactions unless users explicitly opt in to help improve Siri, and even then, the recordings are used solely for that purpose,” Apple said.

The company further expressed its intention to create technologies that enhance Siri’s privacy. Apple isn’t the only big tech that’s facing privacy-related legal action. A similar lawsuit has been filed by Google Voice Assistant users in a federal court in San Jose, California. The plaintiffs in Google’s lawsuit are represented by law firms that represented Apple’s Siri users.