Apple Siri

2024: Siri buys people without permission

Apple has agreed to pay $95 million in compensation in a class action lawsuit against users who accused Siri's voice assistant of unauthorized recording of personal conversations. This became known in early January 2025.

The assistant spontaneously activated and recorded user conversations, after which he transmitted this data to third parties, including advertisers. Several plaintiffs reported the emergence of targeted ads after discussing specific brands and health services.

The agreement applies to owners of Apple devices with Siri support who made purchases from September 17, 2014 to December 31, 2024. The list includes users, iPhone iPad, Apple Watch, HomePod, iPod touch and Apple TV. Each victim will be paid $20.

As part of the settlement, the company pledged to permanently delete all records of users' personal telephone conversations and post detailed information about Siri's privacy settings on its official website.

Preliminary confirmation hearings for the settlement are scheduled for February 14, 2025, in Federal Court for the Northern District of California, presided over by Judge Jeffrey White.

Apple has entered into a settlement agreement to avoid a potential $1.5 billion fine under the U.S. Wiretap Act if the case loses in court. At the same time, the company did not admit any violations on its part.

A similar class action lawsuit is currently pending in court against Google's voice assistant. The plaintiffs are represented by the same law firms that conducted the case against Apple.

If, after the distribution of compensation, part of the funds remains unused, they will be directed to charitable purposes.^[1]

2020: Apple sued for patent infringement on Xiao-i voice assistant

On August 3, 2020, it became known that the Chinese Shanghai Zhizhen Network Technology Co., which owns a patent for a voice assistant in China, filed a lawsuit against Apple. Xiao-i's voice assistant has a technical architecture similar to Apple's Siri. Read more here.

2019

Apple will no longer listen to default Siri audio

Apple told^[2] to users about new changes to the Siri voice assistant. Now the function of processing audio recordings of voice commands will work only with the permission of the user, and only Apple employees will listen to audio data. The feature will work for users on all devices and will take effect in the fall of 2019^[3] to^[4].

Until recently, listening to audio recordings by default was part of Siri's normal behavior. When the user ran the voice command, Siri would record it as an audio file and upload it to an Apple server, where contractors would check the recordings as part of a Siri quality assessment program called "call grading."

Apple sued for wiretapping Siri users

In the US, a Siri voice assistant user sued Apple over listening to voice requests. The tech giant has been accused of violating California's privacy laws, which prohibit recording conversations without permission.

A San Jose resident who sued Apple is the guardian of a minor, both using iPhones. The plaintiff also accuses the company of giving false testimony to Congress in a written response to a request to protect confidential user data, RIA Novosti reports.

Apple's user agreement stipulates that a person gives permission to record by activating Siri's voice assistant with the words "Hey Siri," but the court says that activation can occur from other sounds, in particular, from the sound of a fastening lightning bolt or when raising his hand.

Siri records doctor consultations and sex. Apple contractors listen to it

At the end of July 2019, it became known that Apple was attracting third-party companies to study conversations recorded by voice assistants. Moreover, contractors often have to listen to very private conversations, for example, diagnoses made by doctors, negotiations on commercial transactions, sounds during sex, etc.

Apple listens to conversations and intimate scenes of Siri users

These records are accompanied by user data showing location, contact details and data from applications, "one of the former employees of the wiretapping company Siri told The Guardian.

According to him, user interactions with Siri are sent to special workers who listen to recordings and evaluate them according to several criteria. For example, it is necessary to assess whether the record was intentional or false positive. It should also be noted that the system was triggered.

The interlocutor says that Siri begins recording after the phrase "Hey, Siri," but can do this even after pronouncing similar words or even under the influence of rolling thunder. In the case of the Apple Watch, the voice assistant is automatically activated when the user raises his hand and begins to say something.

Apple confirmed the fact of wiretapping the conversations of Siri users and explained this by the company's desire to improve its service.

A small proportion of Siri requests are analyzed to improve Siri. User requests are not associated with an Apple ID. Siri's responses are analyzed at protected sites, and all reviewers are required to comply with Apple's strict privacy requirements, Apple said in response to a post in The Guardian.

Meanwhile, the interlocutor of the publication says that there is a high probability of data leakage, since Apple partner companies are constantly updating personnel, so there is a risk that an attacker who has huddled among employees may abuse the confidential information received.^[5]

2018: Siri is the most popular voice assistant in the US

As of May 2018 USA Apple , Siri has the most used voice mobile assistant.

2010: Apple acquires Siri Inc

In 2010, Apple acquires Siri Inc's research results for an undisclosed amount.

2007: Startup Siri Inc

In 2007, a study on the creation of a virtual secretary (see below) was paid for in the form of a startup Siri Incorporated.

2000: DARPA instructs Stanford Institute to develop virtual secretary for military

In 2000, seven years before the first iPhone, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA) commissioned the Stanford Research Institute to develop a kind of proto-Siri, a virtual secretary to help military personnel. Twenty universities were involved in the project, and they worked hard on technologies that would bring a voice-activated virtual assistant to life.