Apple apologizes over 'Siri, where are the terrorists?' police station fiasco

Apple has apologized over a Siri issue which listed local police stations when asked "Where are the terrorists?"

From Fast Company:

Apple says it has made an adjustment to Siri after some users criticized how the voice assistant answered a question about terrorists.

As demonstrated in a number of Facebook posts, YouTube videos, and Reddit threads, Siri would produce a list of directions to local police departments when asked, "Siri, where are the terrorists?" The videos went viral, as videos do, prompting an array of discussions about whether the response was an example of anti-police sentiment or whether Siri was simply triggered by the keyword "terrorists."

Explaining the blunder (which couldn't have come at a worse time), Apple says that Siri was incorrectly interpreting the question as a possible cry for help, as though someone wanted to report terrorist activity to the police, which is why it listed police departments in the area.

Apple further stated:

"In this case, Siri misinterpreted the query as users wanting to report terrorist activity to police. The issue has been fixed, and we apologize for the error."

Siri was recently updated in iOS 14 with a shiny new, compact user interface, and now powers Apple's new Translate app, which can help you hold a conversation with someone in over 65 different language pairs. Siri can also help you send audio messages, get cycling directions, and send your ETA to others whilst on a journey.