I think the article got that wrong. Apple does manually review tagged images, but does not access the original image, but the security voucher containing metadata, including the NeuralHash and a "visual derivative" of it (see Apple's spec [1]).

Also, this only applies to pictures you upload to iCloud. So, it's not like they're accessing your personal photos without telling you.

[1] https://www.apple.com/child-safety/pdf/CSAM_Detection_Techni...