Visual Look Up recognizes objects, animals, landmarks, and more from photos on your iPhone.
For example, if you take a picture of a flower, the tool attempts to identify its species.
It can do the same for dog breeds, car models, and other items.
The original Visual Look Up prioritized privacy.
While location data was shared anonymously, the overall approach was minimal and privacy-conscious.
Enhanced Visual Search, however, takes things a step further.
Even more troubling, this behavior is enabled by default.
The company has even published a research paper outlining thetechnical detailsof this process.
However, developer Jeff Johnson, who first noticed the new data-sharing behavior, criticized Apple’s opt-out approach.
“This user never requested that my on-machine experiences be ‘enriched’ by phoning home to Cupertino.
This choice was made by Apple, silently, without my consent,” henotedin a blog post.
On the other hand, one could argue that most cloud-based services inherently involve some level of data sharing.
For Mac users, the option can be found under Photos > controls.
Disabling this feature prevents your photos and location data from being added to Apple’s cloud-based search index.
An opt-in approach might have been a better way to avoid sparking this controversy.
Image credit:Amanz
