James Delahunty
31 Oct 2012 0:26
Siri cleans up its act in China.
Chinese mobile users were shocked (or thrilled) that the iPhone's Siri mobile assistant was something of a pimp. Siri would direct users to brothels or other erotic services - if you asked the right questions - despite the fact that prostitution is illegal in China.
A Mandarin version of Siri was launched just this summer. The problem is, Siri seems to have kept her ear to the ground in China. Apparently, she could direct an inquisitive Chinese user to a brothel or escort service on demand.
A public outcry was probably inevitable, and now it seems that Apple has cleansed Siri of her dark ways in China. She no longer seems to provide usable information when asked for directions to sex services, and so forth, in the world's largest mobile phone market.
Just last year, Apple had to deny that Siri has an anti-abortion (or pro-life?) bias because the service could not point out an abortion clinic, but would offer counselling and other services instead. Siri at one point also claimed that the best smartphone ever was the Nokia Lumia 900.
Apple. apparently. has no problem changing how Siri behaves if her behaviour threatens the bottom line.