Earlier this year, the Guardian published a report which revealed that Apple was secretly paying human contractors to listen to recordings of customers talking to its Siri digital assistant in order to improve the service. Siri is Apple’s voice-controlled personal assistant and it uses speech recognition and natural language processing technologies to process voice commands that operate the mobile device and its apps.
Although not explicitly disclosed in consumer-facing privacy documentation, it was discovered that a small proportion of Siri recordings were being passed onto Apple’s contractors around the world so that they could grade the responses based on various factors including whether the activation of Siri was deliberate or accidental, whether the query was within the range of what Siri could expect to assist with, and whether Siri’s response to the query was appropriate. As part of their job of providing quality control, Apple’s contractors were regularly privy to private material including confidential medical information, crimes being committed and couples having sexual intercourse.
In the aftermath of that report, Apple issued a formal apology for its privacy practices, noting its failure to “fully live up to its high ideals”. In its statement, Apple announced that it would suspend the grading program along with other changes including the discontinued retention of audio recordings of Siri interactions in favour of computer-generated transcripts; the option for users to opt into the use of audio samples of their requests, and if opted in, the deletion of any inadvertent triggers of the Siri assistant. However, Apple was just one of several major tech companies that were caught using paid human contractors to review recordings from its digital assistant.
Who else is listening in?
Denne historien er fra December 2019/January 2020-utgaven av Leadership.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra December 2019/January 2020-utgaven av Leadership.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Bright Minds, Bright Future
For the economy to grow, businesses need graduates whose skills match their needs. Producing these graduates is the core focus of Stefan Ferreira, CEO of the Richfield Graduate Institute of Technology.
Safety In Business
Securing the future is essential
Artificial Intelligence
Is artificial intelligence reinventing insurance? This was the question posed by Bill Hoggarth, national sales manager, Digital Business Solutions at high performing and secure ICT solutions provider, Datacentrix. He was speaking at the recent Robotics, Drones and AI in Insurance Conference, held in Rosebank, Johannesburg. In answer to the question, Hoggarth clarified that no, he did not believe artificial intelligence (AI) was changing the nature of insurance–at least, not on its own. “My view is that AI is not reinventing insurance, but that it is part of the mix of technologies that is causing a shift in insurance today,” he said.
Leading The Future
Leading the modern world requires fast thinking and an impulsive ability to adopt and adapt to the technologically driven era. The way we conduct business today has drastically changed from the way business was conducted ten years ago, failing to integrate innovation and technology could prove fatal to any business.
The Evolution Of The IT Operation
Consistency in delivery is key
Empowering Our Future
More than half (51%) of youth aged 18–24 years claim they do not have the financial means to pay for their tertiary tuition. That is over 1.4 million youths who will never be able to afford to take their education further and thereby increase their opportunities to progress in their careers and lives. This is the sad reality according to the Higher Education and Skills in South Africa report released by Statistics South Africa in March 2019.
Air Traffic Navigation Services: Flying High Into The Future
After an exceptional 2018/2019 financial year, Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS) is poised to soar even further, as it builds on an exceptional record and heads into the next phase of its development
Entrepreneurs Hit Hard By Coronavirus
The big challenge
Use The Covid-19 Lockdown To Think Differently
Crowdfunding, delivery of food, hygiene and learning packs, and psychosocial support could #changethestory
Attractive Production Tax Credits
“We wouldn’t do it without the production tax credit we get.” That’s what Warren Buffett said about his holding company Berkshire Hathaway’s US$30 billion investment in wind turbines and infrastructure in the State of Iowa through one of its companies, Berkshire Hathaway Energy (BHE)
