Siri’s got a mouth on her just in time for Mother’s Day
Apple's smart assistant Siri has a new trick up her virtual sleeve — giving an answer to the definition of the word "mother" that you've heard before, but not from a A.I. bot. And note: this isn't one you're going to want to use for Mother's Day.
When asking Siri to define the word 'mother,' the first round of answers brings up the usual meaning for mom. But then Siri asks if you'd like to hear further meanings, and this is where things take an unusual turn for the usually wholesome Siri: she says a word that let's just say rhymes with "other lucker."
Artificially intelligent voice assistants don't truly have a mind of their own despite recent episodes of "Silicon Valley" suggesting otherwise with the introduction of an allegedly-sentient "Sophia." These slips of the digital tongue we're hearing today from Siri, for example, require a very human coder at the other end, adding details to a computer program.
Sometimes called Easter Eggs, the discoveries are meant to be fun diversions, digital scavenger hunts for those who like to look behind the curtain of apps, programs, video games and clearly voice assistants' scripts.
Sometimes, however, the code can be manipulated in ways coders and companies don't originally intend, as was the case when Microsoft's AI bot Tay got played to tweet out some unusual responses, including offensive comments about feminist and politicians in 2016. (Tay's Twitter account is still dormant.)
A Reddit user uncovered this new Siri spin, which is easy to repeat from the "Hey Siri" feature on your iPhone.
"Hey Siri, define the word 'mother."
Siri will respond with the top definition and then ask:
"Do you want to hear the remaining one?"
Just the word "Yes," from you, will be enough to get Siri to then say:
"Short for …."
We'll just let you fill in blank.
