As consumers increasingly turn to voice assistants like Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant for tasks including setting reminders to controlling smart homes, the convenience comes with a hidden cost: threats to data security and privacy.
Apple’s recent proposal of a $95 million cash settlement over Siri’s alleged privacy breaches demonstrates this friction between technological convenience and consumer trust.
These artificial intelligence-powered tools have revolutionised human-device interaction, but their rapid adoption has also highlighted vulnerabilities in safeguarding personal information, industry analysts have said.
According to Dev Nag, founder and chief executive of California-based technology firm QueryPal, Siri’s settlement reflects a broader shift in how privacy breaches are being monetised in the regulatory landscape.
“While the amount may seem substantial, it actually signals that privacy violations remain relatively inexpensive for tech giants,” Mr Nag told The National.
Globally, the drivers behind voice technology adoption are speed and convenience, research and news company PYMNTS said in its research report released in April.
According to the report, 63 per cent of consumers said they would use voice-assisted technology if it were as capable as a person; 58 per cent cited ease of use and 54 per cent mentioned its speed compared to typing or using a touchscreen.
Apple’s $95m settlement: what happened?
Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to resolve claims that Siri had improperly recorded and retained user conversations, even when not triggered. A preliminary settlement was filed on Tuesday in federal court in Oakland, California, but it still requires approval by a district judge.
The lawsuit alleged that accidental activations allowed sensitive information to be recorded and shared with third-party contractors for analysis, breaking privacy laws and user trust.
A couple of complainants in the lawsuit reported receiving advertisements for Air Jordan trainers and Olive Garden restaurants after mentioning them in conversations. Another claimed to have been shown advertisements for a specific surgical treatment following what they believed was a private discussion with their doctor.
Mr Nag sees this case as emblematic of the compromises tech companies make while navigating the rapid advancement of AI technology.
We are seeing a pattern where companies like Apple can effectively purchase their way out of privacy controversies while maintaining their market position
Dev Nag,
chief executive of QueryPal
“The timing of this settlement during a period of aggressive AI development highlights how companies are prioritising their algorithmic capabilities over reputational risks,” he said.
While Apple denied wrongdoing, the settlement highlights the growing scrutiny of tech companies because of data privacy practices.
The privacy lawsuit, initially filed in February 2021, was dismissed by a judge on grounds of insufficient evidence. However, it was refiled and allowed to proceed in September 2021 after the judge determined that the plaintiffs had presented sufficient claims in their revised submission.
What Apple’s settlement means for consumers
If approved, the proposed settlement would apply to the US-based users who owned or purchased Siri-enabled devices – including iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, MacBooks, iMacs, HomePods or Apple TVs – between September 17, 2014, and December 31, 2024.
It could compensate users up to $20 per device, covering as many as five Siri-enabled devices per person.
Eligible users must also declare under oath that Siri was accidentally activated during a conversation they considered confidential or private.
The final payout per claimant will depend on the total number of valid claims, meaning individual compensation could fall below the $20 cap.
Mr Nag said that the settlement could act as a “privacy tax” rather than a true deterrent, allowing companies to treat such payouts as part of their cost-benefit analysis when developing AI features.
“Apple essentially paid roughly $20 per affected device, a fraction of each device's profit margin … we are seeing a pattern where companies like Apple can effectively purchase their way out of privacy controversies while maintaining their market position,” he added.
Siri and its share of controversies
In August 2019, Apple issued a formal apology for the breach of Siri-related privacy practices.
At that time, the company admitted to secretly employing humans to review recordings of customer interactions with Siri to improve the service. These interactions also included private conversations, recorded due to unintentional Siri trigger, and human graders were reportedly listening to up to 1,000 recordings a day.
“We realise we haven’t been fully living up to our high ideals, and for that we apologise,” Apple said.
It also announced an immediate suspension of human grading or review of Siri requests, opting instead to use computer-generated transcripts. However, users now have the option to opt in and allow Siri to improve by learning from audio samples of their requests.
Apple has been the subject of numerous lawsuits and has been involved in antitrust investigations in Japan, South Korea and Europe.
In September, the EU told Apple to allow access to its tightly controlled iPhone and iPad operating systems to rival companies and third-party developers or face antitrust fines.
In March, the company said it would appeal against a $2 billion fine from the European Commission, stemming from an accusation that Apple unfairly shut out music-streaming rivals on its platforms, most notably Spotify.
It also faces an investigation in the UK over complaints about how the company treats app developers.
Big Tech’s troubled record on privacy
The Apple case is not an isolated incident. In the past, major tech companies have faced substantial fines for privacy breaches.
A separate lawsuit involving Google Assistant is currently pending in a federal court in San Jose, California. The same law firms representing plaintiffs in the Apple lawsuit are also handling the Google case.
In July 2021, Google was fined €500 million ($515 million) by French authorities after the company failed to comply with orders on how to conduct “fair” talks with the country's news publishers and agencies.
The US Federal Trade Commission imposed a $5 billion penalty on Meta-owned Facebook in 2019 due to privacy breaches related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. This settlement included various requirements to enhance accountability and transparency within Facebook's operations.
Also in 2019, Facebook was called out for collecting confidential details of 187,000 users, some as young as 13, through its now non-operational app Research that paid users for wide-ranging access to their data.
In July 2020, Facebook admitted to accidentally sharing users’ confidential data with hundreds of third-party app developers even after their access period to user data had expired.
Mr Nag predicted that as regulatory pressure intensifies, other tech giants like Microsoft, Google and Amazon “proactively restructure their AI data collection practices to create legal shields while maintaining access to valuable training data”.
“[They] are already shifting towards hybrid approaches that technically comply with privacy regulations while preserving their ability to harvest user interactions … [they are] designing AI systems that can learn from encrypted or anonymised data streams … allowing companies to claim privacy by design while still building powerful AI models. ”
UAE squad
Esha Oza (captain), Al Maseera Jahangir, Emily Thomas, Heena Hotchandani, Indhuja Nandakumar, Katie Thompson, Lavanya Keny, Mehak Thakur, Michelle Botha, Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Gokhale, Sashikala Silva, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish (wicketkeeper) Udeni Kuruppuarachchige, Vaishnave Mahesh.
UAE tour of Zimbabwe
All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – First ODI
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
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Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Abu Dhabi traffic facts
Drivers in Abu Dhabi spend 10 per cent longer in congested conditions than they would on a free-flowing road
The highest volume of traffic on the roads is found between 7am and 8am on a Sunday.
Travelling before 7am on a Sunday could save up to four hours per year on a 30-minute commute.
The day was the least congestion in Abu Dhabi in 2019 was Tuesday, August 13.
The highest levels of traffic were found on Sunday, November 10.
Drivers in Abu Dhabi lost 41 hours spent in traffic jams in rush hour during 2019
RACE CARD
6.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh82.500 (Dirt) 1,400m
7.05pm Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,400m
7.40pm Handicap (TB) Dh92,500 (Turf) 2,410m
8.15pm Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (D) 1,900m
8.50pm UAE 2000 Guineas Trial (TB) Conditions Dh183,650 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm Dubai Trophy (TB) Conditions Dh183,650 (T) 1,200m
10pm Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (T) 1,400m
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Multitasking pays off for money goals
Tackling money goals one at a time cost financial literacy expert Barbara O'Neill at least $1 million.
That's how much Ms O'Neill, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the US, figures she lost by starting saving for retirement only after she had created an emergency fund, bought a car with cash and purchased a home.
"I tell students that eventually, 30 years later, I hit the million-dollar mark, but I could've had $2 million," Ms O'Neill says.
Too often, financial experts say, people want to attack their money goals one at a time: "As soon as I pay off my credit card debt, then I'll start saving for a home," or, "As soon as I pay off my student loan debt, then I'll start saving for retirement"."
People do not realise how costly the words "as soon as" can be. Paying off debt is a worthy goal, but it should not come at the expense of other goals, particularly saving for retirement. The sooner money is contributed, the longer it can benefit from compounded returns. Compounded returns are when your investment gains earn their own gains, which can dramatically increase your balances over time.
"By putting off saving for the future, you are really inhibiting yourself from benefiting from that wonderful magic," says Kimberly Zimmerman Rand , an accredited financial counsellor and principal at Dragonfly Financial Solutions in Boston. "If you can start saving today ... you are going to have a lot more five years from now than if you decide to pay off debt for three years and start saving in year four."
Brief scores:
Southampton 2
Armstrong 13', Soares 20'
Manchester United 2
Lukaku 33', Herrera 39'
Leading all-time NBA scorers
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 38,387
Karl Malone 36,928
Kobe Bryant 33,643
Michael Jordan 32,292
LeBron James 31,425
Wilt Chamberlain 31,419
England XI for second Test
Rory Burns, Keaton Jennings, Ben Stokes, Joe Root (c), Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Ben Foakes (wk), Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Jack Leach, James Anderson
PROFILE BOX
Company name: Overwrite.ai
Founder: Ayman Alashkar
Started: Established in 2020
Based: Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai
Sector: PropTech
Initial investment: Self-funded by founder
Funding stage: Seed funding, in talks with angel investors
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Mobile phone packages comparison
McLaren GT specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 620bhp
Torque: 630Nm
Price: Dh875,000
On sale: now
Seemar’s top six for the Dubai World Cup Carnival:
1. Reynaldothewizard
2. North America
3. Raven’s Corner
4. Hawkesbury
5. New Maharajah
6. Secret Ambition
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Virtual banks explained
What is a virtual bank?
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority defines it as a bank that delivers services through the internet or other electronic channels instead of physical branches. That means not only facilitating payments but accepting deposits and making loans, just like traditional ones. Other terms used interchangeably include digital or digital-only banks or neobanks. By contrast, so-called digital wallets or e-wallets such as Apple Pay, PayPal or Google Pay usually serve as intermediaries between a consumer’s traditional account or credit card and a merchant, usually via a smartphone or computer.
What’s the draw in Asia?
Hundreds of millions of people under-served by traditional institutions, for one thing. In China, India and elsewhere, digital wallets such as Alipay, WeChat Pay and Paytm have already become ubiquitous, offering millions of people an easy way to store and spend their money via mobile phone. Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are also among the world’s biggest under-banked countries; together they have almost half a billion people.
Is Hong Kong short of banks?
No, but the city is among the most cash-reliant major economies, leaving room for newcomers to disrupt the entrenched industry. Ant Financial, an Alibaba Group Holding affiliate that runs Alipay and MYBank, and Tencent Holdings, the company behind WeBank and WeChat Pay, are among the owners of the eight ventures licensed to create virtual banks in Hong Kong, with operations expected to start as early as the end of the year.
AIR
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Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
More on animal trafficking
MATCH INFO
Euro 2020 qualifier
Croatia v Hungary, Thursday, 10.45pm, UAE
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
