OAN Staff Blake Wolf
3:57 PM – Friday, January 3, 2025
Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit that accuses the company of infringing on its users’ privacy by utilizing “Siri,” Apple’s artificial intelligence (AI) assistant, to eavesdrop on individuals with Apple devices.
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The agreed upon settlement, which was filed on December 13th, 2024, in Oakland, California, is currently awaiting approval by a U.S. district judge.
The 5-year-old lawsuit alleged that Apple would activate Siri without the user’s knowledge “for over a decade.” The suit continued, claiming that Apple would continue to record, unbeknownst to the phone owner, sharing conversations and certain key words with advertisers in order to push products and services.
Apple has long marketed itself as a “pioneer” in protecting its consumers privacy. However, users have also long suspected that their device is listening to them after specific ads for products or services have been presented via social media apps after simply discussing topics or figures out loud that are related.
Two plaintiffs in the suit recall that after merely mentioning Air Jordan shoes, their iPhone began showing them advertising for the shoes more often. Another noted that after discussing a specific surgical treatment with his doctor, he began receiving medical ads related to that treatment.
The claims fly in the face of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s claim that the right to privacy is a “fundamental human right.”
If the district judge approves the settlement, tens of millions of Apple consumers who owned devices beginning in September 17th, 2014, would be able to file claims, receiving up to $20 per device, depending on the volume of the claims, according to court documents.
Apple has reiterated that they do not acknowledge any wrongdoing in the pending settlement, with lawyers set to review the terms in a February 14th hearing. Additionally, the $95 million settlement is only a small fraction in comparison to the $705 billion Apple has made since the September 2014 cutoff date.
The lawyers representing consumers in the case estimated that Apple would have been required to pay around $1.5 billion if the case went to trial.
Apple’s SIRI acronym stands for “Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface” (SIRI).
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