As it turns out, Apple realistically needs customer data to make Siri AI work well. So, starting with iOS 27, it is asking users to opt-in to training on your data.

A new section in the iOS 27 privacy policy shows that Apple has reversed its stance on using customers' data to train its AI models. Previously, the company assured customers that it had no need for customer data, and would figure out how to make Siri AI work well without it.

Apple maintains that it "takes steps to ensure that personal data is not stored or used by Apple." But as Heise points out, and Apple has said in the terms of service for a few years now, the audio material may be listened to by Apple employees after anonymization.

Currently, new feature is opt-in only. When iOS 27 rolls out on Monday, September 14, users will see a prompt that asks users to help improve the chatbot, with an agree or "not now" button.

It also admits that data collected may be reviewed by "review personnel." It is unclear if "review personnel" are Apple employees or a third-party company contracted to read conversation transcripts, as it has historically been.

If a user opts in, they can revoke their consent by switching it off in Settings > Analysis & Improvements.

The change is a big deal.

Apple has been trying to make Apple Intelligence less of the boogeyman that OpenAI's ChatGPT and Meta's MetaAI have become in the public eye.

Of course, Apple has been training its AI on user data for a while now. It just came up with a complex, yet controversial method to do so, dubbed Differential Privacy.

That method required Apple to provide artificial prompts it believes are popular and then look for pattern matches in user data analytics. Then, because of artificially injected noise and a threshold of needing hundreds of fragment matches, there wouldn't be any way to surface unique or individual-identifying prompts.

But when it comes to Siri AI queries, the company likely needs to actually hear how users are interfacing with the assistant. At least if it wants to remain competitive.

The timing is notable, as Apple's newest Apple Watch models are designed to continuously listen for conversations. Users can request a transcript of the previous 15 seconds at any time, with the audio purged after the transcript is generated.

Siri Recap can also provide users with summaries of conversations from throughout the day. Apple says the feature relies on Private Cloud Compute.

That raises questions about what data could eventually become eligible for Apple's AI training program. As of yet, Apple hasn't said Apple Watch conversation data will be included.

It was inevitable

Apple was always going to get to this point. It was never a matter of if, but rather a matter of when.

Apple has been behind in the artificial intelligence race for quite some time now. And to keep pace with the rest of its competitors, whether it's Meta or OpenAI or Anthropic, it needs to analyze what works and what doesn't work with Siri.

And, unfortunately, to do so, it's going to have to access data. If you allow it, your data, specifically.

Apple's betting that some users will opt in. However, with more and more people growing skeptical of AI, that may not be the safest bet.

I personally doubt that, at least in the medium-term, Apple will force every user to submit to The Data Harvest. I do suspect, though, that the company may force that option in the future if you wish to use Apple Intelligence.

The real question is whether or not Apple will allow Apple Intelligence to remain opt-in forever. And I grow increasingly concerned that, eventually, the company will stop giving users that choice.