Apple will allow users to opt out of having their interactions with Siri recorded following claims by a former worker that they "regularly" overheard confidential encounters, including drug deals and people having sex.

The tech giant has announced changes to its policy regarding the voice assistant following an internal review, with critics having raised questions about its public commitment to privacy.

Unlike Facebook, Google and Amazon, until now Apple had not offered an option for people to opt out of its quality control scheme, whereby the company used audio samples heard by Siri to try and make it more responsive.

Image: The iPhone maker says its quality control scheme was designed to make Siri more responsive

But after revelations that human contractors assigned to Siri recordings were hearing private conversations, Apple has fallen in line with its rivals just a few weeks ahead of the expected launch of its new iPhones.

Owners of an Apple device equipped with Siri will be asked to opt in to any audio sample use when the programme resumes later this year - and company staff will be assigned to the scheme instead of contractors.


In a statement, the firm said: "We know that customers have been concerned by recent reports of people listening to audio Siri recordings as part of our Siri quality evaluation process - which we call grading.

"We heard their concerns, immediately suspended human grading of Siri requests and began a thorough review of our practices and policies. We've decided to make some changes to Siri as a result."

Apple stressed that it believed privacy is a "fundamental human right" and apologised to its customers for not "fully living up to our high ideals".

When the quality control scheme resumes, users will be able to allow for "computer-generated transcripts" of Siri interactions to be kept instead of audio recordings, to help the assistant improve.

Image: Apple chief executive Tim Cook has regularly spoken about the importance of privacy

The California-based company is the latest in an increasingly long line of major tech companies forced to address the issue of what is done with voice recordings.

Facebook has also admitted using contractors to listen to and transcribe recordings of users without their knowledge, but stopped carrying out the practice earlier this month.

While the only recordings used were taken from people who had opted in to having their voice transcribed to help the company improve its tools, they had expected to have only been heard by AI.

Instead, Facebook was until recently using contractors to review audio, which was sent via the Messenger app.

Image: Amazon is among the tech firms which have addressed voice recordings

Amazon staff have also reportedly heard "distressing" recordings taken by Alexa voice assistants and the company has recently said the practice has been halted, as has Google.

Last week, Microsoft told Sky News that it had used humans to review clips in the hope of improving voice-enabled services on its Xbox One after reports that children were among those that had been heard.

While it has stopped doing so since its Siri-style assistant named Cortana was stripped from the console, Microsoft said audio was still reviewed in cases in which gamers are reported for violating its terms of service.