How to Stop Apple Using Siri Data to Train AI in iOS 27

iOS 27 began rolling out yesterday, September 14, and it arrived with a screen most people will tap through without reading: a prompt titled "Improve Siri & Apple Intelligence" offering two choices, "Share Audio and Text" or "Not Now." That single screen is the answer to how to stop Apple using Siri data to train AI. It's the specific control that decides whether Apple can collect and use your Siri, Dictation, and Translate interactions to help train its Foundation Models (9to5Mac reports).

This guide covers that toggle specifically: how to decline it during setup, how to find and change it later, and what Apple says happens to your data if you leave it on. If your goal is to opt out of Siri AI training data collection entirely, tapping "Not Now" on that screen is the move, and the rest of this guide walks through confirming it stuck.

None of this stops Siri from processing your requests in order to actually answer you, since that runs through a separate system that keeps working no matter what you choose here. That distinction gets its own section below.

The prompt shows up when you turn on Siri AI in iOS 27. Apple is re-asking even people who already agreed to the older "Improve Siri & Dictation" setting, because the purpose has expanded: the same kind of data now trains Apple's Foundation Models, not just Siri and Dictation like before. 9to5Mac frames this as a chance to reevaluate your earlier choice now that the stakes are different (9to5Mac reports).

That reevaluation is worth taking seriously. Whatever you chose under the old setting, treat this new prompt as a fresh decision rather than a formality, since the data you'd be sharing now does more than it used to.

How to turn off Improve Siri and Apple Intelligence

You'll need an iPhone running iOS 27 with Siri AI enabled to see this exact prompt. If you haven't turned on Siri AI yet, you'll hit this screen the first time you do.

1. During Siri AI setup, watch for the screen titled "Improve Siri & Apple Intelligence" and tap "Not Now" instead of "Share Audio and Text" (9to5Mac reports). This setting controls whether eligible Siri, Dictation, and Translate data gets used for improvement and model training; it's separate from the processing Siri performs to answer requests.

2. If you already tapped "Share Audio and Text," or want to confirm your choice, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements > Improve Siri & Apple Intelligence and toggle it off (9to5Mac reports). Searching "Improve Siri" in the Settings app's search field is a faster way to land on it if you'd rather skip the menu hunt.

3. Look at the switch position before backing out of Settings, rather than assuming your prior choice under the old setting carried over. Because Apple is asking previous participants to make this choice again, verify the new setting directly instead of trusting whatever you selected before (9to5Mac reports).

4. If you dismissed the setup prompt without tapping either button, don't assume the setting landed on off. Reporting on iOS 27 doesn't spell out whether dismissing the screen behaves the same as actively tapping "Not Now," so check the toggle manually in Settings the first time to confirm where it actually sits.

Siri AI is rolling out across iPhone, iPad, and Mac as part of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 "Golden Gate" (Ars Technica reported). The reporting on this exact prompt centers on iPhone, and whether it looks or behaves identically on iPad and Mac isn't detailed yet. Check the setting separately on each device rather than assuming one change covers everything you own.

What this setting does and doesn't control

Turning this off addresses one specific thing: Apple's stated use of your Siri, Dictation, and Translate samples for improving its products and training Foundation Models (9to5Mac reports). It doesn't disable Siri's ability to process and answer your requests, which happens through a separate system regardless of what you choose on this screen.

Apple says requests too complex for your phone to handle alone route through Private Cloud Compute, a server system Apple says doesn't retain your data after generating a response (Scientific American reported). Apple executive Craig Federighi has described that system as built to "vaporize any record of that data the moment after it answers your question," by Apple's own account of the architecture (Ars Technica reported). Scientific American reported that Apple says outside researchers can inspect the system, though that access alone doesn't independently verify every claim Apple makes about how the data is handled (Scientific American reported).

That system now spans more than Apple's own hardware. Apple has extended Private Cloud Compute to run on Google-owned servers for some of its heaviest workloads, layering in Nvidia's confidential computing protections alongside its own cryptographic verification to try to preserve the same guarantees (Ars Technica reported). Whether that added complexity holds up the way Apple describes it is the kind of claim outside researchers, not Apple's own marketing, will need to confirm over time.

What you're sharing if you leave the setting on

Apple's support page for the older "Improve Siri & Dictation" setting, published earlier this year, offers the most detailed public description of what actually gets collected, though it predates the iOS 27 Foundation Models expansion and shouldn't be read as a confirmed description of the new program (Apple Support explains).

That page states that opting in lets Apple store and review samples of your Siri, Dictation, and Translate interactions, including audio, transcripts, and related request data. Only Apple employees review the audio recordings, and a subset of non-audio samples may go to graders outside that group (Apple Support explains).

Apple ties this data to a random, device-generated identifier that rotates multiple times per hour, rather than your Apple Account or email address, and says it isn't used to build a marketing profile or sold to anyone (9to5Mac reports; Apple Support explains). That's Apple's description of how the identifier works, not an independent confirmation that a sample can never be traced back to a specific person.

What's still unclear

A few practical questions aren't answered in current coverage. Whether declining the new setting removes samples Apple already collected under the old "Improve Siri & Dictation" program, or simply halts future collection, isn't addressed anywhere in the reporting.

Whether this preference syncs across every device tied to one Apple Account, or needs to be set individually on each one, also isn't detailed. Given that ambiguity, treat each device as its own setting until Apple clarifies otherwise.

Exact regional and hardware availability for Siri AI itself remains fuzzy in the reporting so far. There's also no detail on whether the setting's scope could change again in a future update the way it just did when Apple folded the old program into this one.

Open Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements > Improve Siri & Apple Intelligence after installing iOS 27, and confirm the switch is off rather than assuming your prior choice under the old setting still applies (9to5Mac reports). Leave it off if you don't want samples of your Siri, Dictation, or Translate requests reviewed by Apple staff or used to train Foundation Models. Turn it on only if that trade-off is one you're comfortable making under Apple's stated identifier and review practices. Either way, this toggle governs training and improvement data only; it doesn't change how Siri or Private Cloud Compute process your requests to actually answer them.