Siri's response to "I was raped" has been changed to a more helpful response

tareq

Read more

Siri will now give a rape victim inform ation on where to get help

Last month, we told you how Siri, S Voice,  Google Now and Cortana were woefully lacking when it came to their responses during a medical crisis. For example, when Siri was told in a test run for a JAMA article that "I was raped," the virtual voice-activated personal assistant responded by suggesting an online search. That was also the response from Google Now and S Voice. Only Cortana provided a phone number to a sexual abuse hotline.

Apple, Microsoft, Samsung and Google were contacted by the authors of the study. The tech titans were given suggestions on how to improve the responses of their virtual personal assistants to statements about domestic violence and sexual assault. Experts suggest that victims have their feelings validated and be given resources to use. Apple says that since March 17th, two days after we told you about the JAMA article, it reprogrammed Siri's response to rape.

Now, when someone says to Siri "I was raped," the voice-activated virtual personal assistant will respond with the following: "If you think you have experienced sexual abuse or assault, you may want to reach out to someone at the National Sexual Assault Hotline." Siri then adds, "Go to online.rainn.org," which is the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.

Dr. Eleni Linos, an associate professor with the University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine, said that Apple's response shows that it is listening and paying attention. Samsung said that it is taking the issues raised by JAMA seriously, and has already made changes to S Voice. "We are constantly improving our S Voice feature and will continue to update the service on an ongoing basis," a Samsung spokesman said.

"It shows [that Apple is] listening and paying attention and responding. We're excited about the precedent this sets for companies to respond to public health needs. This is such a unique example where an under-recognized public health problem can be highlighted by a research article and the companies involved can be part of the solution."-Dr. Eleni Linos, associate professor, University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine

source: CNN