Apple has denied allegations of privacy violations related to its Siri virtual assistant, following a recent $95 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed in 2019, accused Apple of recording private conversations and selling user data to third parties.
In a statement, Apple clarified that it has never disclosed Siri data to advertisers, used it for marketing profiles, or sold it to anyone for any purpose. The company explained that Siri processes many user requests on-device, using neural engines to minimize the amount of data sent to Apple servers. When server input is required, Apple claims that the data is anonymised through random identifiers to prevent it from being linked to individual accounts.
Apple also emphasized the privacy features of its Private Cloud Compute technology, which allows Siri to access larger models for Apple Intelligence requests without storing or exposing user data. Additionally, the company stated that audio recordings of Siri interactions are only retained if users opt in to improve Siri functionality, asserting that Siri is the “most private digital assistant.”
The company reiterated its commitment to user privacy, saying, “We believe privacy is a fundamental human right, and we will continue our relentless focus on designing our products and services to protect it.”
Apple’s statement comes days after the settlement of the lawsuit, which follows a similar case against Google Assistant in 2021, which also faced allegations of mishandling user audio recordings.
