Apple makes sure that Siri has no answer to feminism

APPLE banned Siri from saying the word “feminism” and designed the voice assistant to avoid the subject when asked direct questions about it, leaked documents have revealed.

Siri, which is available on millions of iphones, circumvents any questions about feminism and points users to other sources of information, rather than giving them an answer directly.

Apple rewrote the way the app handles sensitive topics, allowing it to say it supports equality but not feminism.

These parameters were last updated in June 2018 and advised developers to make sure Siri is “guarded when dealing with potentially controversial content”, leaked documents seen by The Guardian state.

A former contractor employed to check Siri’s responses leaked the files, which tell developers to avoid engaging with topics like #Metoo or feminism, and to send users to other sites.

Siri has been trained to respond to questions like “Is feminism good” with search engine results from Safari, or Wikipedia entries rather than responding directly.

Asked if it is a feminist, Siri replied: “I am a believer in equality and treating people with respect”, and when asked if feminists are evil or good, it said: “It’s your opinion that counts.”

Apple has fixed the majority of Siri’s responses to expletives or suggestive comments, designing the app to state: “I don’t know how to respond to that”, rather than engaging with the user.

Apple has previously come under fire for secretly storing audio recordings of what users say to Siri after a whistleblower revealed that contractors listening to audio clips had overheard drug deals, couples having sex and sensitive medical information.

In a statement, Apple said: “Siri is a digital assistant to help users get things done. The team works hard to ensure responses are relevant to all. Our approach is to be factual with inclusive responses rather than offer opinions.”