Siri “unintentionally” recorded private convos; Apple agrees to pay $95M

Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that its
voice assistant Siri routinely recorded private conversations that were
then shared with third parties and used for targeted ads.

In the proposed class-action settlement—which comes after five years of
litigation—Apple admitted to no wrongdoing. Instead, the settlement refers
to "unintentional" Siri activations that occurred after the "Hey, Siri"
feature was introduced in 2014, where recordings were apparently prompted
without users ever saying the trigger words, "Hey, Siri."

Sometimes Siri would be inadvertently activated, a whistleblower told The
Guardian, when an Apple Watch was raised and speech was detected. The only
clue that users seemingly had of Siri's alleged spying was eerily accurate
targeted ads that appeared after they had just been talking about specific
items like Air Jordans or brands like Olive Garden, Reuters noted (claims
which remain disputed).

It's currently unknown how many customers were affected, but if the
settlement is approved, the tech giant has offered up to $20 per
Siri-enabled device for any customers who made purchases between September
17, 2014, and December 31, 2024. That includes iPhones, iPads, Apple
Watches, MacBooks, HomePods, iPod touches, and Apple TVs, the settlement
agreement noted. Each customer can submit claims for up to five devices.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/apple-agrees-to-pay-95m-delete-private-conversations-siri-recorded/