This is true, but that doesn't automatically make it okay for them to offload this expensive resource to their customers without making it transparent that they were doing so.
>This is literally what google voice was for
Who cares? It's completely expected from Google, they use their customer data to do everything. I expect more from Apple. They have a (so far) great track record of protecting their customer's privacy. I fully expect Google, Facebook, et al to be doing ML on my photos, and that's why I'm bought into the Apple ecosystem instead of Google's. I value that my data is private more than being bombarded with stupid "collections" that the Google Assistant puts together with AI.
I really hope this doesn't indicate a new direction for Apple.