“Siri is not an artificial intelligence”: the shocking documentary on privacy

Invisible: click workersis a web series whose four episodes are broadcast every week on YouTube, and all of them are already available on the official France TV Slash website. As a reminder, this group channel is entirely online and only publishes its content on social networks such as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook Watch, etc.

Aside from this producer, behind the camera, we find mainly the creators of#DataGueule. Here too on the Google platform, videographers dissect global statistics to analyze the socio-economic and ecological issues of our planet. We find there, jumbled and in a striking motion design, key themes such as overpopulation, philanthropy, privatization, taxes, capitalism or even democracy, climate and migration. A work rewardedData Journalism Awards.

Apple singled out

In the last episode, we discover the disturbing interview with Thomas,ex-language analystat GlobeTech Services, a company providingApplebased in…Cork, the European city that owes everything to the iPhone maker. The exchange focuses on his last months within the company, during which he was officially - according to his contract - responsible for “improve Siri accuracy” while working on “millions” of recordings captured by Watches and iPads.

The principle was that we listened to people dictating a message or talking to Siri.

Indeed, according to him and multiple screenshots that he downloaded without the knowledge of his superiors, iOS saves in the form of audio files a large number of our interactions withSiri. In fourteen countries, the scale of this operation would reach a “volume“that he judges”phenomenal“. So far, nothing surprising: we have already known for a long time that to train algorithms, a little human help is necessary,no offense to some Tesla drivers.

But the interviewee's speech takes a completely different turn when he affirms that he does not “didn't realize that we were reaching the point oflisten to people all the time“. He adds that “the microphones on Apple devices are open [all the time] and [that] recordings are triggered randomly“.

But in reality, there were lots and lots of recordings where the voice assistant was actually triggering itself.

According to Thomas, “all the work ofmachinelearningis made by humans“. If this statement seems exaggerated, we nevertheless see that AI is indeed still a long way from being able to function on its own. And this is also the case with competition from Alphabet with the Google Assistant, from Microsoft with Cortana or from Amazon Alexa.

“These are people who feed [Siri] continuously, and that was my job”

As the former employee said to be “criminally liable under Irish law” if he speaks “to anyone” of this activity, he risks serious legal problems. By having signed aNDA*, it in fact gives Apple the right to sue him if he reveals what he discovered. So what should we conclude from this? First, such pressure is likely to ensure that the testimony is truthful.

And then we can quickly think that, even with the iPhone placed on the sofa, an Apple subcontractor could hear you discussing the recipe to prepare while cooking with your significant other. The same goes for the most intimate situations, for example during an argument, a discussion with investors or simply in the bedroom. Without you having called Siri on your own.

However, we do not know to whatdateThe exact documentary was filmed. It is therefore entirely possible that the whistleblower's accusations date back to last year, whena previous scandalsimilar broke out, but which Tim Cook's teams claim to have since remedied. In particular by internalizing these listenings. Furthermore, on iPhones, an option allows you to unsubscribe from the analysis program targeted by this video.

Finally, remember that, according to Apple, on the one hand, less than 1% of Siri requests are handled by employees. On the other hand, all user data would be anonymized. This notion of “randomization” is crucial, because it is what would prevent Apple from knowing that you said a certain sentence at a particular time and place. Competitors like Amazon would not follow this same strategy and would be able to link any query to the user, with first and last name, among others. Butas seen there,it is also possible to deactivate its participation in the improvement of Alexa.

Despite a now almost too classic reference to1984, with the well-known metaphor of apples to represent the brand created by Steve Jobs, it must be admitted that theshort filmremains very well done. It also highlights other issues such as those of FoodTech or other GAFAM and is therefore worth a look, for information.