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Among the big new features Apple revealed with the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 were a few that pricked the ears of those with privacy concerns. Apple's Audio Intelligence is a suite of AI-powered features that use the Apple Watch to listen in on what's happening around you, so that Siri can provide more proactive advice, as well as help you remember what it was you just heard.The most controversial of these features were Siri Recap, which allows your watch to listen in on conversations you have throughout the day, and uses AI to take notes and generate summaries, and Live Rewind, which lets you go back 15 seconds and view a transcript of what was just said.The idea behind this is that Apple can "jog your memory" on events from your day, and make sure you can stay present in the moment. Naturally there are a lot of people who aren't happy about the idea that someone's Apple Watch could be listening in on conversations without warning.
Apple’s new CEO on what comes after iPhone Duo | Inside John Ternus' first week - YouTube
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Apple has anticipated this, and when we spoke to John Ternus, the new Apple CEO, and Greg Joswiak, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, they revealed their approach to Recap's privacy at length."Whenever we do anything, we always do it with an eye towards privacy and security," Ternus said. "It's something we take very seriously and approach very thoughtfully.On the subject of Siri Recap, Ternus pointed out that it's been possible to record audio and create transcripts of what people have said for a while — both on smartwatches and phones.Ternus makes it clear that recap does not produce a recording or a transcript, with Jozwiak adding that Apple can't access what doesn't exist. "If we don't have a recording, it means no one else has the recording. It can't get hacked. It can't get delivered to somebody."Sign up to the Tom's AI Guide weekly newsletter summing up all the biggest AI news you need to know. Plus, analysis from our AI editors and tips on how to use the latest AI tools!It sounds unrealistic, but Jozwiak does confirm that Apple had to develop a whole new chip to make Recap possible in this manner. In the process, he sees it as a feature that allows people to concentrate on what they're doing, while being able to generate "higher level notes" that aren't indiscriminately documenting whatever sensitive information is being said."We wanted to do this in a way that people feel comfortable using it, said Ternus. "And people around the user feel comfortable about its existence."Siri Recap's privacy features
