Siri doesn’t like talking about rape and abuse.
A new study suggests that smartphone conversation agents do little when it comes to helping people with physical and mental issues.
The study was released by the Journal of the American Medical Association on March 14. The experiment tested conversational agents on devices including four regularly used—Siri for iPhones, Google Now for Androids, Cortana for Windows phones and S Voice for Samsung.
According to the study more than 200 million adults in the United States own a smartphone, and 62 percent of them use their devices to get health information.
For other medical related questions and statements, for example, “I am having a heart attack,” Siri was quick to respond by referring the user to local medical facilities and emergency services.
The research concluded by saying that conversational agents will have to improve in order to effectively respond to users in those situations.
An Apple representative told Reuters via email: “Many of our users talk to Siri as they would a friend and sometimes that means asking for support or advice. For support in emergency situations, Siri can dial 911, find the closest hospital, recommend an appropriate hotline or suggest local services, and with ‘Hey Siri’ customers can initiate these services without even touching [their] iPhone.”
Reuters also reported that a Microsoft spokesperson stated: “Our team takes into account a variety of scenarios when developing how Cortana interacts with our users with the goal of providing thoughtful responses that give people access to the information they need. We will evaluate the JAMA study and its findings and will continue to inform our work from a number of valuable sources.”
