Cupertino apologizes for the assistant’s misinterpretation of search terms

Dec 1, 2011 10:35 GMT  ·  By

Groups like NARAL are calling upon Apple to fix Siri’s flawed search filters that tell women who seek a deliberate termination of their pregnancy to visit crisis pregnancy centers, or CPCs, which are generally biased and are not up front about their anti-contraception agenda, according to the pro-choice group.

NARAL 'went' straight to Apple with a letter addressing its CEO, Timothy D. Cook, asking the tech chief to ensure that Siri provides folks (not just women) with accurate information about their reproductive-health options.

A key excerpt from the actual letter can be found below:

“News reports have documented that, in some instances, Siri responded to a question concerning where to find abortion providers by directing an individual to anti-choice organizations known as “crisis pregnancy centers”(CPCs). Anti-choice groups created CPCs to look like comprehensive health clinics, but many do not provide women with accurate pregnancy-related information. This issue is especially important to us at NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation, as our state affiliates in California, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia have produced reports that document these deceptive practices. Many of these centers are not up front about their anti-abortion, anti-contraception agenda when advertising online or in other channels. For instance, many CPCs do not disclose their bias to women who walk through their doors or call their toll-free lines seeking information. Ultimately, many of these centers can be harmful and do nothing to help women locate the services they requested from Siri.”

Of course, NARAL is right. But Apple’s isn’t wrong either.

You see, Siri and its locations partners are churning up what is known as ‘manipulated results’, much like Google. And Siri is also still in Beta, though Apple (admittedly) doesn’t say it loud enough.

Still, the company has provided a statement to the press via its PR representative, Natalie Kerris, who said that Apple’s search filters weren’t intentionally designed to pull up these results.

She explained to the New York Times that, “Our customers want to use Siri to find out all types of information, and while it can find a lot, it doesn’t always find what you want.”

Kerris said in the phone interview late Wednesday, “These are not intentional omissions meant to offend anyone. It simply means that as we bring Siri from beta to a final product, we find places where we can do better, and we will in the coming weeks.”