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Apple’s next iOS update will include an opt-in for people to share their iCloud data to help improve the firm's voice-powered virtual assistant Siri.

Apple is uncharacteristically opening up its artificial intelligence, but how smart is it? Apple Apple is uncharacteristically opening up its artificial intelligence, but how smart is it?


A note included in the iOS 10.3 beta, released last week, explained that “analysis of such data will allow Apple to improve intelligent features and services” including Siri. The feature can be turned off at any time. All data, according to the iCloud Analytics & Privacy information page, will be handled in a “privacy-preserving manner”.

Apple, with its focus on privacy, has lagged behind rival Google in using data-mining to improve its artificial intelligence-powered software. While Google has focused on investing heavily in data mining to improve its artificial intelligence-powered products, Apple has lagged behind.

Apple’s solution? Scramble the data up. The technique, which Apple refers to as “differential privacy”, was first discussed at the company’s WWDC event in June 2016. By using algorithmic scrambling, the company says, it can mix up user data so it's no longer personally identifiable but still remains useful for training an artificial intelligence.


The technique is already being used on iMessage to power next-word predictions and on Spotlight search to better find and rank search results. By feeding iCloud data to Siri, Apple will hope to make up lost ground on Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant, both of which harvest user data to improve performance.

It might be a small software update, but the shift could be significant for Apple which has relied on hardware sales for so long. As those sales slow, being a leading player in areas such as artificial intelligence could give it a crucial advantage.

Later today Apple will reports its first-quarter earnings for its fiscal year ending September. The quarter, which encompasses holiday sales, is normally the company’s busiest. Analysts are predicting revenue in the region of $77.38 billion, a two per cent year-on-year increase. Apple announced an annual decline in revenue and profit for the first time in fifteen years in 2016.