Kevin Bostic
Apple often touts how its products affect the lives of their users, and a recent update to Siri suggests that the company is committed to doing what it can to save those lives as well.
When the iOS digital assistant Siri is presented with a user that indicates he or she is considering suicide, the program will offer to call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Before this most recent addition, Siri would show the locations of centers but not offer to call them.
The change to Siri's recommendations will be a feature in both iOS 6 and iOS 7. On devices without a calling feature, such as the iPad and the iPod touch, Siri will list and read off the NSPL phone number, but will then search for nearby suicide prevention centers.
The change appears to be a server-side alteration to Apple's digital assistant. Previous alterations have made Siri less tolerant of long-winded questions and improved her ability to tell and take jokes.
Apple's forthcoming iOS 7 update will give Siri even more capabilities, including the ability to control settings, search Twitter and Wikipedia, and search Google or Bing. Siri will also gain additional voice options, giving users the ability to a male or female voice for the digital assistant.
Christine McKee
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46 Comments
Good on Apple
Good move, Siri. She may be just an electronic voice but the thought originated from a human source. May not be a hug, but always, even in desolate moments, there will be someone somewhere who cares.
So, just a followup question to the last few lines of this article: has Apple officially clarified that you can choose between Bing and Google with the new Siri? I know that right now, you can choose your preferred search client, but that's because Siri pushes the query to Safari. In the demo during WWDC the search results were pulled up, via Bing, in Siri, not in Safari.
I think Siri could go even further. She should speak some life affirming quotes to help shore up the human spirit in a time of need.
This is awful news. How helpful is it for Siri to call the American National Suicide Prevention line when I don't live in the USA? Not only will I be dead, I will have HUGE long distance bill. This is going to cause unnecessary suffering, pain and money loss to tens of thousands.