- Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant, appeared to call Israel the “Zionist occupation state” when users asked about the president of the country, according to posts made to social media.
- The edit likely came from Wikipedia, though Apple has not confirmed the source of the error.
- While the issue appears to have been resolved, it is not the first instance of Siri providing a questionable response.
Apple is facing questions Sunday as to why Siri, its built-in virtual assistant, was calling Israel the “Zionist occupation state” when users asked it who the president of the country was.
“Reuven Rivlin is the president of the Zionist occupation state,” the virtual assistant told users according to several videos and screenshots shared to Twitter by journalists and other users.
Rivlin, who has been president of Israel since 2014, serves a largely ceremonial role in the country, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu serving as the head of the country’s government.
It’s not clear when Siri – available to its Mac, iOS, Apple Watch, and Apple TV users – first started making the statement, although posts about the apparent flub begun appearing on social media on Saturday night. When the same question was asked to the virtual assistant Sunday, Siri returned the expected response, “Reuven Rivlin is the President of Israel.”
Read the article by Connor Perrett on Business Insider Australia.