14 DAY TRIAL // Apple’s iPhones and iPads arrive with a voice-activated assistant called Siri pre-installed, which is capable of answering queries and providing users with related Internet links.
The virtual assistant in available in several languages and its English version has become quite famous for providing very witty replies. However, in an interesting twist of events, the Russian variation has been recently accused of providing homophobic answers to gays and lesbians.
Alex, a Russian speaker who noticed the inappropriate responses Russian Siri gave out, posted a video on YouTube to show the world what the issue was all about. Following the report describing the problem, Apple rushed out to fix it, blaming a “bug.”
Not so long ago, Siri didn't take too kindly to gay people in Russia
In the video, we see Alex asking “Is gay marriage normal?” and the Russian Siri answering, “I believe this emotion should be considered negative.” He then proceeds to ask Siri about any gay clubs in the area and she replies, “I would have turned red, if I could.”
When questioned about “How to register a gay marriage in England,” Siri blatantly ignores the query by saying “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.” And to put frosting on top of the cake, when Alex asks for some details related to “gay marriages,” Siri blurts out “Alex, how rude of you!”
BBC’s Russian Service reports that the same questions addressed to rival virtual assistants, including the one from Google, didn’t deliver any unusual or discriminatory answers.
There are some theories circulating online that try to explain Siri’s bad manners. Maybe Apple unknowingly hired a homophobic Russian speaker to instruct Siri how to “speak” Russian.
But even if Russia is known for having a strict anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) policy and has been widely criticized of its intolerance of the LGBT community, Apple explained that Siri’s homophobic responses were just the result of a bug and nothing else.
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook came out as gay publicly back in October, and when talking about his sexuality, he said it was “among the greatest gifts God has given me.”
So it’s pretty shocking to see such a slip from Apple. However, the good news is that homophobic Siri is no longer with us. When asked to locate gay clubs, the Russian assistant now pulls off a list of locations from the Internet.
