Standby mode ‘always on display’ only works for iPhone 14 pro or 15 pro—it needs the always on display capability. The camera isn’t activated for that feature at all, and iOS has an indicator in case it is or was recently being used.
Are you taking more generally about people’s willingness to put cameras and microphones in their private spaces with Apple, Amazon, or Google home devices? I agree that we’re putting a lot of faith in these companies to *not* spy on us at all times; it’s one of the reasons I choose Apple for this type of stuff, because they seem more up front about preserving privacy and sandboxing certain features to prevent malicious uses. Amazon for sure uses the camera in Echo and Ring devices that have them. But yeah, our phones can ‘hear’ us pretty well at all times these days.