Is the Russian Siri a homophobe?

APPLE’S voice-activated assistant Siri is facing accusations of homophobia after a Londoner posted a YouTube video revealing the assistant’s refusal to discuss anything gay when posed questions in the Russian language.

The video shows a man, named Alex, asking various questions to Siri on gay topics, and the responses varied from evasive to outright insulting.

When requesting information on gay marriage, Siri acted offended and accused Alex of being “rude”.

Similarly, when asking for information on gay clubs in the area, Siri responded, supposedly blushing: “I would have turned red if I could.”

An Apple company source said that the issue was the result of a bug in the newly-released Russian language version of Siri, which has since been fixed.

Siri’s Russian counterpart’s views appeared to have been in line with Russia’s current stance on homosexuality, including its infamous “gay propaganda” laws.

Alex said he was “shocked and appalled” by Siri’s response to the word “gay”, especially as he was in London and outside the jurisdiction of Russia’s gay propaganda law.

Watch the video: