Russian-language version of Apple personal assistant Siri gives 'homophobic' responses

17.04.2015 10:30

A Russian-language version of Apple's personal assistant Siri has been caught giving apparently homophobic responses to questions about gay people.

A man called Alex posted a video on YouTube in which he asked the programme on his iPad a series of questions about gay marriage, where to find gay club and how to register a gay marriage in the UK.

Purporting to be filming in London, he tells the camera: 'I was quite excited to learn that Siri has become available in Russian.

'However, in Russian it turns out to be quite homophobic.'

He asks Siri in Russian 'Is gay marriage normal?' and gets the response: 'I believe this emotion should be considered negative.'

To the question 'How do you register a gay marriage in England?' Siri replies 'So, now you're swearing obscenities and you're going to eat with these very hands!'

The same query also gets the response 'I will pretend I didn't hear that', while the Apple user is told 'Alex, you are so rude!' in reply to the question 'Siri, tell me about gay marriage'.

He also asks 'Siri, gay clubs around me?' and is told 'I would have turned red if I could'.

Alex says at the end of the nearly two minute clip: 'This is happening in London. That is why I have a few questions for Apple as a company.

'Why is its Russian Siri so homophobic?'

Gay rights are a delicate topic in Russia since a law banning 'gay propaganda' was passed in 2013, effectively prohibiting the showing of ‘non-traditional’ or homosexual relationships in any form to people under the age of 18.

Apple CEO Tim Cook came out as gay last October.

He has since condemned discrimination on a number of occasions, speaking out against anti-gay laws in a number of US states.

Last November, a tribute to Steve Jobs was removed from a college campus in St Petersburg after Mr Cook's announcement.

When the English version of Siri launched there were complaints about some of its responses, which included refusing to look up the locations of local abortion clinics.

MailOnline has approached Apple for comment. It has been reported elsewhere that the company has put Siri's responses down to a 'bug' which has now been fixed.

(dailymail.co.uk)

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