Using the permission to record audio triggers an on-screen indicator that the mic is recording. Someone would probably notice it on 24/7 recording. Someone would have also by now found the constant stream of network traffic to send the audio to be analyzed, because they also aren’t doing that on-device.
It’s one of the core principles of fascism. The enemy is at once weak, feeble, and inferior yet simultaneously powerful, cunning, and insidious.