Apple defends staff listening to Siri recordings

Tech giant tells Oireachtas committee that human review of ‘small sample of audio’ helps improve the digital assistant’s service

Siri uses as “little data as possible to deliver an accurate result”, the committee heard. Picture: Getty

Apple has defended the practice of staff listening to recordings made by Siri, its digital assistant.

Gary Davis, global director of privacy and law enforcement requests for Apple in Europe, appeared before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications on Tuesday following privacy concerns surrounding Siri and Google Assistant.

In August, it was revealed that hundreds of contractors for Apple in Cork were paid to listen and grade recordings from Siri. Apple soon halted the project ...