Petition To Correct Siri's Apparent Anti-Abortion Bias Collects Nearly 30,000 Signatures

In the past 24 hours, more than 27,000 people have signed a petition asking Apple to stop iPhone voice assistant Siri from directing women to anti-abortion "crisis pregnancy centers" when they ask where to get an abortion.

The Raw Story reported on Tuesday that Siri does not turn up results for any abortion clinics in Washington, D.C. or New York City. Instead, the iPhone 4 assistant either suggests out-of-state crisis pregnancy centers, which have the stated purpose of convincing women not to get abortions, or says "I didn't find any abortion clinics."

The petition to Apple, organized by social activists Nita Chaudhary and Shaunna Thomas through MoveOn.org, states: "Apple: Stop promoting anti-choice extremists. If a user asks for family planning services, they should be directed to a group that offers full services, like Planned Parenthood--not to a hard-right clinic with an extremist agenda." It had collected 27,294 signatures by the time this story was written and will be sent to Apple CEO Tim Cook when it reaches 30,000.

"What's so surprising is that Apple would put a product on the marketplace that is so discriminatory and antiquated," Thomas said Thursday. "Apple needs to correct and update Siri's query data. Apple has this reputation of being innovative and progressive, and this oversight seems out of step with who we know them to be."

NARAL Pro-Choice America also sent a letter to Cook on Wednesday demanding that Siri recognize abortion clinics.
"Siri is a great tool that mixes humor and sarcasm in responding to questions--and it is another example of how your company is on the cutting edge of demonstrating how technology can transform the way we share and access information," wrote Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL. "Thus, it is disappointing to read that a tool like Siri is missing the mark when it comes to providing information about such personal health issues as abortion care and contraception.

Apple responded to the uproar by saying that the Siri glitch is unintentional and will be fixed.

"Our customers want to use Siri to find out all types of information, and while it can find a lot, it doesn't always find what you want," Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for Apple, told The New York Times on Wednesday. "These are not intentional omissions meant to offend anyone. It simply means that as we bring Siri from beta to a final product, we find places where we can do better, and we will in the coming weeks."

Chaudhary told HuffPost it doesn't matter to her why the problem is happening.

"The issue is that it is and it's actively hurting women who're seeking information on family planning services," she said. "This needs to get fixed--quickly."

Comments

[HopeWFaith]

09:05 AM on 12/06/2011

A relatively easy to obscure situation can cause a lot of problems, as we see here. This beta program conversion is only a tiny tid-bit of what is going on on a much larger scale across the nation. It is hard not to tie this kind of error back to the other agendas flooding our nation right now. Democracy and choices are at stake on so many levels, so it is hard to put the Beta conversion issue aside from the political hatred being spewed around.

No doubt it would be helpful to a lot of people to make any technology better. I cannot imagine that Apple would want people to stop buying its products over a rather profound lack of information on one. I won't be buying until they do.

What is a sad mix here in the comments, the overall lack of caring of people, a division of mind, so immature, so irrational as to make any rational person just go jaw drop.

All people need information, and all should have the dignity and the right to make their own private choices about their own bodies.

If you want to stop abortion, you need to make sure every state develops a plan to caring for, feeding, clothing, providing medical care, and educating all un-wanted children born for their entire lives. Then you can all get together, pay the taxes for these new institutions, and be responsible for taking care of them for their lifetimes. Only you.

[Pariahesque]

07:49 PM on 12/05/2011

well, clearly from reading the comments, there is vital information missing from the article. A very obvious notation that it is a beta program, and a definition of what a beta program is.

On that note they should probably explain the challenges in creating an app like siri. Just forget the simple programing issues that come with any voice recognition software and multi source information gathering and all the other aspects involved. But the idea that the base concept is sitting down and thinking 'if we allowed anyone to ask any question, what would they ask?' then trying to actually create the simplest list you can.

all that considered the amount it does cover is relativly impressive. they even planned for some of the more obvious joke questions like 'where do I dispose of a body'. I'm pretty sure with all that considred most would find it somewhat hard to be upset that no one thaught to put in a line of code detailing the definiton of the word alternative when used in the same sentence as abortion or clinic, or that they neglected to consider that most clinics that provide the service do not suggest as such in their name.

If you still think this news, get out a medical dictionary and start asking where you can get treatment for the difrent varieties of cancer then accuse google of being pro cancer when it fails to direct you to a hospital in regards to one of them.

[Wide Stance]

02:08 PM on 12/04/2011

The sites that SIRI misidentifies as abortion clinics refer to themselves as “Free abortion alternatives” and "Crisis Pregnancy Centers." (See this NY times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/nyregion/12bigcity.html)

What SIRI hears: "Free Abortion."

Search SIRI for "Chinese takeout." You get some Chinese restaurants.
Now ask SIRI for "Chinese takeout alternatives." Do you get Chinese restaurants?

I have an iPhone 4 so someone else will have to test it, but I suspect SIRI will either ignore the word alternative, or think you want a list. (I would be stunned if it offered you a list of only non-Chinese restaurants.)

SIRI has to be programmed to know what "alternative" means in each context. "Alternatives" could mean to SIRI "give me a list." If SIRI isn't programmed to look for "alternative" in the results and to know that this is *important* in that context, it will think a clinic offering "free abortion alternatives" is a match.

Now, that doesn't explain the failure to find *valid abortion clinics*, but it does show how the wrong results could be displayed. (I suspect that the valid clinics might not be listed in the source. Perhaps they use "family planning" as a descriptor and SIRI doesn't know what that means.)

[RACHELLE WADE]

01:14 AM on 12/04/2011

I guess I am confused as to why this would be a problem even for those who are pro-choice. I don't think anyone is pro-killing babies, so what is wrong with educating women on the choices they have before they make a rash decision that can impact the rest of their lives. Yes, having a baby changes your life forever. I understand that most women take having an abortion very seriously, but most women I know who have had an abortion suffer from years of depression and regret. I would rather see these women have some counseling and be educated on their choices before they make a decision they will regret for the rest of their lives!!!!

[eva07]

07:23 AM on 12/04/2011

Do you really think women are not aware of the choices they have?
Strange that you claim that "most women you know who have had an abortion suffer from years of depression and regret." It is a well-known line from the pro-life movement. But it is simply not true.
Of course you can say about the women you supposedly know whatever you wish and nobody can refute it, but neither research nor real life supports your claim.
http://women.webmd.com/news/20000822/study-says-most-women-dont-regret-abortion

[clarissa49]

08:17 PM on 12/04/2011

Nothing is wrong with it. And you are right! However, you won't be able to convince most commentors on this site. I have my own opinion regarding abortion that is more in the middle.

[drrickhyde]

12:54 AM on 12/04/2011

Since when was it ok to murder your family?

[Wide Stance]

02:35 PM on 12/04/2011

Since when is it okay to make false analogies and dishonest semantic arguments?

[Spadreisle]

10:12 PM on 12/03/2011

It does matter. But it also matters that apparently someone, without Apple's knowledge, did this. We've got presidential candidates I'd suspect. It can't be too surprising that an unknown Apple employee would do it.
There is no indication that Apple was behind it. It is an incredible injustice, and Apple has promised it will be fixed.

[RubyMontana]

10:18 PM on 12/03/2011

Or not. Perhaps the one who created the software (a man) didn't even consider the question!

[Spadreisle]

10:23 PM on 12/03/2011

A good point, but as any computer programmer can tell you, the misdirection of this problem is not one that can happen by accident in programming. Someone made an active decision.
[And some men do consider questions that involve our mothers, wives, daughters, and loved ones. Your comment was unkind.]

[pjw922]

09:48 PM on 12/03/2011

I am sooooo tired of this "HORSESHIT", do people not have anything better to do than find a reason to "BITCH ABOUT A DEFINITION FROM THE DICTIONARY"? This world of "FOOLS" is crazy and I have a really hard time understanding how the "MINORITY OF FOOLS AND IDIOTS" come out of the woodwork and people take them seriously!!! This is ridiculous...and I can't believe that this "STUPID" spokesperson from Apple apologized and will take measures to correct the issue! :(((

[eva07]

07:39 PM on 12/04/2011

First as your mom would tell you, watch your language.
Second, it is not only a dictionary, but if you use one, you should expect to get correct answers and rightly so..

[dcn2112]

08:32 PM on 12/03/2011

THIS IS RIDICULOUS!! Everyone that is for abortion is talking about how careless parents will save MONEY....is money more important than life? NO! What is wrong with our society today?

[Hollywooddeed]

10:44 PM on 12/03/2011

People not minding their own business?

[eva07]

07:19 PM on 12/04/2011

What?

[Vic Tor]

07:20 PM on 12/03/2011

Ummm... to use Siri you have to have a data or wi-fi connection and if you have data or wi-fi connection, you can easily switch over to Safari (internet browser) and search whatever you want. Apple provides this app with every iPhone and it's censorship free.

What is the problem here? That the iPhone does make it *convenient* to get a list of clinics? Get a grip.

[RubyMontana]

10:19 PM on 12/03/2011

And if you have wi-fi, you can afford birth control!

[eva07]

07:27 AM on 12/04/2011

I assume you have never heard of rape and incest. Plus accidents can happen with every birth control method..

[JoePesci]

04:03 PM on 12/03/2011

the dumb in here is so thick you can cut it with a spork..

a) this is about the political agenda of a phone app programmer

b) nobody is "Pro abortion". it's not a fun tuesday night out.

c) If you are against abortion rights, and are pro death penalty at the same time, you are too stupid to be reached, and all of the facts, figures, Cost/benefit analysis or common sense in the world will not get through.

d) If you still believe in a God, especially one who dictates novels to people in a DESERT, well..

[Wide Stance]

05:33 PM on 12/03/2011

["the dumb in here is so thick you can cut it with a spork..
a) this is about the political agenda of a phone app programmer"]

SIRI isn't an app, it's a lot more than that. There is no single "app programmer" behind SIRI. SIRI is mostly backend. It started as an american company called "SRI" (hence the name) working on a Federal grant from DARPA, a research arm of the Dept. of Defense. The defense project funded by DARPA flopped, but SRI spun it off the project into what is now "SIRI." The app that SRI ran on the iPhone called "SIRI" was a tiny subset of the present SIRI's capabilities, designed to showcase its potential to Apple. It worked, Apple bought SRI and SIRI.

Your first statement was spot on. The dumb is making my ears bleed. There is no agenda behind this; it is an entirely predictable technological problem--a lack of context-specific programming. The only agenda here belongs to the pro-choice community that is using that technological shortcoming for political gain. It reflects badly on those of us who are pro-choice, those of us who wish they would spend their time educating and not manufacturing crises.

[JoePesci]

11:37 PM on 12/03/2011

noted. I didn't see it that way at all.. thanks for setting me straight..

[pfreddie88]

02:03 PM on 12/03/2011

There are two types of pro-lifers. The first kind are those who actually feel pain at the thought of a woman having an abortion, who so desperately care for human life that they would do anything to preserve it. Tot hose I would say, legal measures do not work. They will never work, and time and energy you put towards that are resources that could be used on legitmate methods to really reduce abortions, like free birth control and poor mother support. I have admiratiuon and sympathy for this group.

The other kind, the kind I see most often, are there self-righteous, judgemental right wingers who want to legislate and dictate every action of humanity. Don't have abortions, don't have sex. If you're pregnanat and don't want to be, sucks to be you. If you were raped, or your life is in danger, you should pray, because no one is going to do anything to help you. They use political influence and strong arm tacticts to make the world to their own liking. A lot of times these are the same people who cut WIC funding, food stamps, health care, and education. To you, I say, I am going to fight you every day in every way for the rest of my life. Worry about your own bodies and your own house before you worry about mine. You concern for human life begins at the moment of conception, but it ends at the moment of birth.

[jkkFL]

06:58 PM on 12/03/2011

Very thoughtful.
f&f

[Joe man]

11:30 AM on 12/03/2011

Censorship in any form is a method of control and deception. Religion is truly a guess. It's why we refer to it as "faith," not fact.

If Apple cannot land on the side of open and honest communication they are starting down that slippery road to ruin.

I hope they get the message and stop immediately, before it's too late.

[Wide Stance]

12:30 PM on 12/03/2011

This wasn't censorship.

SIRI seaches various knowledge databases (such as a restaurant guide, or an airline website) to provide answers to *anticipated* queries. Booking a flight, buying tickets, getting chinese takeout. It's obvious Apple didn't ANTICIPATE people using SIRI in this way, therefore it isn't programmed to search a database that is relevant to and capable of informing such queries.

Who could have anticipated people being BLITHERING enough to use SIRI for major life decisions? Kudos to Apple for not being one of them. It's a feather in their cap.

[behavingbadly]

02:12 PM on 12/03/2011

Apple seems to have anticipated it enough to provide links to ANTI-abortion sources.

As to your second point: when someone searches for "nearby restaurants", they've most likely already decided that they intend to eat. Similarly, when someone is searching for the location of abortion clinics, those "major life decisions" have probably already been made.

[JoePesci]

03:55 PM on 12/03/2011

read more than the headline..

[drrickhyde]

12:53 AM on 12/04/2011

More than a Carpenter, look up the book by Josh Mcdowell, it'll be the best book you have ever read apart from the bible. If you can't prove it wrong, why don't you try to look into it enough to prove me wrong.

[joeyfoto]

05:00 AM on 12/03/2011

How could these anti-choice zealots have EVER thought that this would fly in this demographic.

The company that underhandedly attempted this social hack, against the iPhone users community, should be banned from providing content to Apple... forever.

Fundamentalist Fanaticism demands an unpleasant level of suspicion, but that's a cost of keeping this liberty.

These people hate sex because they hate life. They imagine a faux-world in a parallel universe where real-life begins after you die. Just like the suicide bombers going to their virgins in heaven, these true believers hate your moment of life. As long as we remember that, we'll be able to understand why they do what they do then take appropriate counter measures... It's simple really, once we understand what we're up against. The hard part is believing that we have so many contemporaries who are stuck in the middle ages. Enlightenment challenges their convictions which only angers them.

After more than twenty five years, of publicly contending with the anti-choice movement, that's my understanding of the mind set of our anti-choice adversaries.

They do force us to pay attention...

[LennyR]

11:04 AM on 12/03/2011

So, they hate life but want to make sure people's lives aren't ended?
The attitude you describe is certainly incorrect. It seems close to dualism which is condemned as heresy. No pro-life person I know hates life or sex.

"How could these anti-choic­e zealots have EVER thought that this would fly in this demographi­c."
No one thought anything like that because it's a computer search algorithm. No one went in an "programmed" it to ignore abortion centers. Siri is just not in general a super search engine. . .
http://searchengineland.com/why-siri-cant-find-abortion-clinics-103349

As both your claims about why Siri doesn't work and dualist attitudes are incorrect, I hope you will at least try to have a more realistic view of those you disagree with.

[joeyfoto]

12:59 PM on 12/03/2011

LennyR writes: "So, they hate life but want to make sure people's lives aren't ended?"

I love waking up to anti-choice double-talk.

No, anti-choice fanatics presume, based upon theological speculation and logical absurdity, that a fetus is a "person," which gives them the right to abuse the actual person who has rights in the matter — the woman within whose body that fetus exists. I find that offensive as I always will. Years of clinic defense has exposed me, to the cruelty and boundless ugliness of a great majority (not all...) of the anti-choice protestors who assault women entering Planned Parenthood clinics. I didn't make-up these observations.

After over twenty five years of dealing with the abusive and dualistic attitudes of anti-choice fanatics my experience tells me that I am not incorrect— I call these folks "fanatics" when they take their theological speculations and ill-logic then apply it to my family, when they apply their beliefs to themselves, their beliefs are none of my business.

I read sea­rchenginel­and's commentary on this incident, with interest.
http://sea­rchenginel­and.com/wh­y-siri-can­t-find-abo­rtion-clin­ics-103349
It is entirely possible that what I called a "hack" is, in fact, a unintentional search engine anomaly. The result is not inconsistent with the actions of anti-choice activists, but I suspend judgment as to the cause of this search error. Thank you, for that clear reference.

[behavingbadly]

02:16 PM on 12/03/2011

Ask a database programmer about the odds of a search algorithm "accidentally" returning only anti-choice results.

[lioncarern]

03:50 PM on 12/03/2011

You have no clue about the majority of pro life people because all you hear about is the vocal minority. The rest of us are quietly working in crisis pregnancy centers, food banks NICU's post abortion counseling, adoption and foster agencies, and working to vote and legislate conditions that would'nt leave so many women feeling so desperate that they kill their own kids. It's just so much more "convenient" to attack, just like you claim pro life people always do. Shame on you for distorting the truth.

[goatini]

05:03 PM on 12/03/2011

"post abortion counseling"

Shame on you for distorting the truth - the truth that the vast majority of women who obtain a pregnancy termination for an unwanted pregnancy experience RELIEF. Shame on you for stigmatizing a perfectly legal healthcare procedure, so you can maintain your little fiefdom of manipulators and exploiters of a "problem" that YOU created.

[lioncarern]

09:22 PM on 12/03/2011

Wow, your murderous venom is really spewing forth, maybe your guilty conscience. You will answer to your Maker, and the blood of the innocent will cry out to accuse you.

[Travis Armstrong]

04:31 AM on 12/03/2011

First of all, everyone I know that has "Siri" is sitting around thinking up the most outrageous and off the wall questions just to see how "she" responds. Secondly, how long has Siri been around?!? Long enough that newly impregnate­d women are relying on this "service" to provide/re­commend their health care for them? Are you kidding me? I love new tech and gadgets immensely, but if I need any kind of medical attention, I'll go by human interactio­n unless it's an emergency and we still have 911 for that, don't we?. Worse come to worse, there is such a thing as a phone book. It's the big yellow thing that magically appears on your doorstep every year filled with tons of free info if you only have the strength and intellect to open it and use it. Oh yeah, you do need to know the alphabet, sorry!

[denno617]

08:56 AM on 12/03/2011

You are totally missing the point. I don't think that anyone is "relying on this service to provide/recommend their health care". The point is when you ask the question it should provide a response to the question, not an alternative to your question. If you ask for McDonalds, should it give you KFC because Siri doesn't think you should eat red meat? Most are so focued on pushing their views of anti abortion to the rest of the world, the point is lost. Siri should provide a correct response to the users question, not judge, just provide that answer. Oh and your arrogant attitude of knowing the alphabet and challenging peoples intellect to use it, the obvious is your the one that is lacking in intellect and ability to use common sense.

[Wide Stance]

11:19 AM on 12/03/2011

He might have missed *your* point, but it wasn't *THE* point. How could he have anticipated your rambling off-topic desires? That's analogous to the challenges faced by SIRI, a case in point. You are the one missing the majority of the points here.

You are conflating a question about program design with a philosophical position espoused by Apple. SIRI doesn't have intelligence, it simulates processes that require intelligence. Namely, it strives to deduce context, which is an extremely difficult linguistic problem. Even those who possess intelligence don't solve it 100% of the time. If you can't interpret every nuance or anticipate every question, you can't have a "correct" answer ready for that question. What is correct to you? You couldn't even follow the point of the article.

SIRI isn't "judging." That requires intelligence, among other things. SIRI is a program designed to provide alternatives in the event that it's "got nothing." Programmers are loathe to have their program answer a question: "I don't know." A list of alternatives increases the odds of being right. Would you prefer it just blink at you? Perhaps say, "HUH?" This is a question about the philosophy of program design. How was the poster to which you arrogantly replied to anticipate your off-topic desires? Much like SIRI, he couldn't. Who's being arrogant, and lacking knowledge? (Don't expect SIRI to know.)

[Travis Armstrong]

08:40 PM on 12/03/2011

I would hope that the alphabet isn't that challenging to the majority of the population. My common sense tells me not to rely on my gadgets but to rely on myself. It's just a phone, right? Just remember that common sense is not necessarily arrogant. It just sounds that way when you lack the former of the two.

[Hans Bickel]

03:57 AM on 12/03/2011

3C. Does GOD really visit this world? Seems unlikely, but the verifiable truth is that He does so on a regular schedule that is given in scriptures that predate His visits. So, for example, Lord Krishna, appeared some 5,000 years ago and more recently only about 500 years ago as Lord Caitanya. Sure many will think that these are just unproven beliefs, but their historical record is intact and scientifically verified. It is during these visits that GOD acts and speaks to us to help us understand the Absolute Truth and rearrange our lives so that we can leave this world and reach Vaikuntha, the land without fear that is full of eternality, knowledge, and bliss. With the knowledge given in historically verified scriptures like Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, Caitanya Caritamrita, Ramayana, Mahabharata, and hundreds more, one can know volumes about the knowledge we are always hankering for including GOD, the soul, the material and spiritual worlds.

For some "ignorance is bliss," but for the intelligent, knowledge of the Absolute Truth is the most blissful. Armed with such knowledge a person is able to understand past, present, and future and can discriminate between what is good and bad, right and wrong, beneficial and malevolent. Therefore one can realize how abortion is evil by both logical reasoning and verification through the Absolute Truth. If you really don't want that higher taste, you are always free to do as you like. GOD Bless You! Dr. Hans