Apple’s Russian version of Siri launched earlier this month, and while the presence of the virtual assistant in Russia is certainly welcome, its early bigoted views were not.
According to one YouTube user, Siri not only refused to answer questions about gay bars but went a step further, providing downright homophobic responses. In the video, Siri supposedly claims to be embarrassed by the topic, suggesting that gay marriage is a bit of a downer.
“Siri, tell me about gay marriage,” the user is shown asking. “Alex, you are so rude!” comes Siri’s response.
The video can be seen below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUC2GD351EU
Although the views are sadly representative of a vocal part of the Russian government, they are entirely out of keeping with Apple’s progressive take on the topic. The company has played a major part in LGBT pride parades, while openly gay CEO Tim Cook has fought to promote gay rights.
Recently, Apple fired a former politician it had hired to lobby on its behalf to the Alabama state legislature because he was discovered to have a history lobbying for anti-gay laws.
So what happened here? Provided the video is genuine, it’s highly reminiscent of early controversies seen in the English version of Siri. Early users accused Siri of pro-life leanings after the AI refused to look up local abortion clinics.
A commenter for British gay rights blog PinkNews has what seems to be a reasonable suggestion for the homophobic Russian Siri:
“I’m willing to bet that Apple doesn’t have a huge amount of native Russian speakers running around. They probably contracted out a lot of the work, and it almost certainly must have used a third-party profanity filter. It seems safe to say that any third party Russian language programs would probably be designed by Russian programmers, and it wouldn’t shock me if they stuck ‘gay’ in.”
When PinkNews contacted Apple, Cupertino refused to give a direct statement regarding the accusation, although an Apple rep reportedly confirmed that the “bug” has since been fixed. According to the website Vocativ, which tested the service earlier today, Russian Siri now provides helpful directions to gay clubs and parties in Moscow.
Cult of Mac has contacted Apple. We will update this post when we hear something.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
9 responses to “Did ‘bug’ cause Russian Siri to be homophobic?”
Все правильно сделали.
A computer cant be afraid of anything so how could it be homophobic. There is a difference between being anti gay and homophobic.
Eh, not so much.
“Phobia” can mean “fear of,” but it also means “aversion to.” So when you say that someone is “homophobic,” you’re not saying they are afraid of gay people, you’re saying they have an aversion to them.
You know darn well what is meant when they say “homophobe”. It is meant to be a derogatory term to say you are afraid of gay people and the term needs to stop being used.
Look it up. “Aversion to” is exactly what it means, and what is has always been intended to mean.
Even if it was some conspiracy to make up a derogatory term for people who hate gay… There are PLENTY of derogatory terms for gays, so it’s not like any scales have been tipped the other direction.
Russia is a strong christian orthodox society. Stop whining, you’re wasting your time. (if you’re wondering, I’m a french atheist)
lol! I tried speaking portuguese: “Siri there is any gay disco near me?” She replied: “This is about you, not about me.” lol lol
How is that a bug? Anyone read about what’s going on in Russia these days?