Privacy @lemmy.ml OhVenus_Baby @lemmy.ml 2mo ago

How to privatize Apples Siri assistant?

I am looking for any methods to add privacy to Siri. I do not use apple products but it appears their voice assistant is the most privacy friendly option of the mainstream brands. How can I privatize/anonymize the smallest apple device with siri for daily use. Such as an iPod or iPhone jailbroke or not, or homepod device. I do not have the time to do a lengthy setup. I need plug and go for the most part as I am overworked already. I am using this for voice reminders, to do lists, the basic stuff, asking questions. Thanks.

Edit: Besides locking it in a sound proof danger box, using a voice changer as input, hard wiring on its own little danger spot on the network, fake account, pi hole, and VPN. Any realistic ideas?

8 comments

You can't. The only way to use these assistants is not to use them. "More private" does NOT equal "private". Either do not use them at all or be conscious of the fact that you will not be private while using it.

Edit: mycroft maybe the only exception to that and that's only because it's open source and according to what most people think of as a digital assistant would not be ready.
- I looked into Mycroft but sadly they have shutdown is appears. Their lead Dev left and went to work on Home Assistant. I think Home assistant is dominant in this space. But things aren't refined for plug and play use. Yet! They are making major strides in the space though.
  
  Okay, I knew about home assistant, but was not aware that it was a voice assistant, like Siri or the Google assistant. I just figured it was an app-based thing to control devices (similar to the google home app).
I keep track of parts of such a solution at https://fabien.benetou.fr/Content/SelfHostingArtificialIntelligence namely TTS, STT, LLM, etc. There is also a recent HomeAssistant article https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2024/06/07/ai-agents-for-the-smart-home/ which is quite interesting... but also concludes that they don't believe it's ready for prime time for most.

If you have specific use cases in mind, happy to give more pointers for solutions I believe might fit. That being said I'm not personally convinced as I don't use any assistant on a daily basis. Still I believe FLOSS alternatives are interesting to consider for any topic.
Take a look at Rhasspy.*

*Will take a lengthy setup. Maybe look at S.E.P.I.A.?
- I will look into this. Thanks. Rhasspy is super intensive for setup. Such a cool option but too niche currently for my use. EDIT: This is cool. Self hostable here a link for others to check it out. https://sepia-framework.github.io
https://benmarte.com/blog/how-to-run-your-own-ai-assistant/

Ollama?

8 comments