OREANDA-NEWS. Apple has suspended the global program for evaluating the messages that users exchange with Siri's voice assistant, writes the American media with reference to a company members. Apple said that they are conducting a “thorough analysis” of the situation and won't study the records received through Siri for the duration of the verification. “In addition, as part of a future software update, users will be able to choose whether to participate in the evaluation program”, the company spokesman said.

Last week, one of Apple’s contractors told the English media that user recordings with Siri, which the company is analyzing to improve its voice assistant, often contain confidential information. On some records, the addresses of clients, medical appointments, and also, possibly, information about drug deals were announced, a newspaper source said.

According to the contractor, Apple instructed to analyze the records in several ways. For example, did the user want to turn on Siri or did it happen by chance, how appropriate was the response of the voice assistant, etc. A media source said that the records were accompanied by information about the user's location and a number of other data, for example, about contacts and the application. According to him, often the recordings were made due to the fact that Siri was activated by chance. The source noted that this often happens when using the Apple Watch and the Apple HomePod smart speaker.

Apple told the newspaper that they are analyzing a small part of requests to Siri in order to improve the work of the assistant and dictation of messages. At the same time, in the requests of users there is no information about their accounts, the company assured. In 2018, US senators expressed concern to Apple CEO Tim Cook about reports that the company's devices could “eavesdrop” on users through Siri. Apple then said that this is impossible without the consent of customers.