On: Apple suspends Siri response grading in response t...

[fastball]

I mean, the "main" function of a phone IS to listen to you. For phone calls.

[blub → fastball]

The main function of a phone is to make phone calls. In order to do that, it activates a microphone during the call.

This is not the same as listening, never mind always listening. A home assistant must always listen in order to recognize the activation words.

[fastball → blub]

If you don't trust home assistant vendors to not randomly send non-queries to the cloud, I'm not sure why you'd trust phone vendors to not have the microphone on when you haven't given it permission.

[blub → fastball]

The latter is more unlikely compared to the former, which is by design. Furthermore, at least on iOS Siri can be completely turned off through a configuration profile.

This is a reasonable approach for someone whose thread model allows them to use a smartphone...