TechCrunch has just reported that Apple had decided to “suspend” the Siri quality control program following an expose by the Guardian last week of private contractors listening in to recordings, including sex acts within the privacy of one’s bedroom.
The report said the company was now planning to “review the process” called, “grading”, to understand whether Apple Siri was hearing queries correctly or not.
In addition, it will be issuing a software update in the future that will let Siri users choose whether they participate in the grading process or not.
The expose in the Guardian had quoted contractor at a firm hired by Apple to perform part of a Siri quality control process for grading. The process takes snippets of audio, which are not connected to names or IDs of individuals, & allegedly has contractors listen to them to judge whether Siri is accurately hearing them.
The TC report quoted a statement by the company: We are committed to delivering a great Siri experience while protecting user privacy. While we conduct a thorough review, we are suspending Siri grading globally. Additionally, as part of a future software update, users will have the ability to choose to participate in grading.”
Read the various tweets around this entire episode.
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