Apple may have built-out Siri to be a lot smarter than it was when it first made its debut on the iPhone 4S, but Cupertino’s virtual assistant is still prone to the odd glaring mistake.
The latest Siri gaff, according to CNET, involved mistaking the national anthem of Bulgaria for ‘Despacito’, a song by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi featuring fellow countryman and rapper Daddy Yankee.
When asked “What is the national anthem of Bulgaria?” Siri would answer with Despacito and serve up the Wikipieida entry for the song which currently holds the title of the most streamed song of all time.
Despacito doesn’t reference Bulgaria or the nation’s national anthem, which is called ‘Mila Rodino’ and has, believe it or not, no reference to Puerto Rico, Fonsi or Yankee.
Apple has kept tight lipped on the Siri mistake, but appears to have fixed the issue, as when we asked Siri the same question it served up the right answer rather than an unrelated song.
The hiccup is likely down to some metaphorical crossed wires on the back-end servers and software systems that support Siri’s machine learning and voice recognition. Given machine learning works by throwing a lot of data at algorithms for smart software to essentially teach itself, often with some human guidance, the error could have been down to data sets getting crossed over or mixed with information they shouldn’t have.
Apple tends to not comment on such minor Siri faux pas, and will likely let the issue slide as it continues to improve Siri. However, Apple will need to make sure Siri is at its smartest when it releases its HomePod smart speaker which has Siri as the arbiter of the device’s connected and smart functions.
Related: Apple HomePod vs Amazon Echo
Has Siri provided you with any amusing or odd answers? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
