Hacker News Reader

Comment by Karunamon | Hacker News Reader

FTA: (apple) so obsessed it even programmed Siri to avert uncomfortable questions about its origins

... freakin' really??? And I suppose that when I ask Siri in jest to open the pod bay doors, I should be worried that my phone is plotting my demise based on the response?

View on HN

I think this may be a reference to the recent episode of This American Life on the topic [0]. On that program they use this issue as a light introduction to the main theme, just a curious feature of Siri that when you dive deeper leads to an interesting story.

[0] http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/454/m...

What I was expressing such shock at was the way they phrased it. If you look at the image to the right of the offending sentence, it's a Siri screenshot with

Siri, where were you made? Siri: That's classified.

I don't think this is Apple "programming siri to avert uncomfortable questions" as much as another joking response to a nonsense question along the lines of "Open the pod bay doors" or "What is the meaning of life".

The implication struck me as utterly absurd.

Siri was able to answer the "where were you designed?" question with "Designed by Apple in California", so it may or may not be just joking response to a nonsense question.

I just finished listening to that episode this morning, and absolutely cannot recommend it highly enough. Some of the best radio I've ever heard.

same here. eye-opening

Reply on news.ycombinator.com