Apple Contractors Working on Siri Regularly Hear Confidential Information [Report]

Apple contractors working on Siri regularly hear confidential information including medical details, drug deals, and sexual encounters as part of their job 'grading' the company's Siri voice assistant, reports The Guardian.

Although not explicitly disclosed by Apple, a small percentage of Siri recordings are passed on to contractors that are tasked with grading Siri's responses. A whistleblower, who works for one of these contractors, has raised concerns about Apple's lack of disclosure, especially due to the frequency with which accidental activations record personal information.

“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.”


The HomePod and the Apple Watch are the most common sources of accidental recordings.

“The regularity of accidental triggers on the watch is incredibly high,” they said. “The watch can record some snippets that will be 30 seconds – not that long but you can gather a good idea of what’s going on.”

In a statement to the Guardian, Apple said that less than 1% of Siri activations are reviewed by humans.

“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.”


More details in the full report linked below.

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