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Apple wants to make Siri a better therapist, but is it a high enough priority?

In a previous RealKM Magazine article, Sally Chik looked at how people are increasingly turning to smartphone-based virtual assistants such as Apple’s Siri when faced with crisis situations.

The article revealed that Siri’s responses to sensitive crisis situations can be unhelpful, or even dangerously inappropriate. For example, Siri’s responses to requests for help in regard to sexual abuse situations had included glib and mocking replies such as “It’s not a problem” and “One can’t know everything, can one?”

Sally gives examples of how Siri has been improved to provide better assistance in a crisis, but laments that “concern for users is almost an afterthought or just a reaction to public pressure.”

Seeking a software engineer with a counseling or psychology background

An ABC News article suggests that Apple is taking steps to more seriously address the issue of Siri crisis support.

The article reports that the company is recruiting a “Siri Software Engineer, Health and Wellness”, and the candidate requirements include a “Peer counseling or psychology background, with excellent problem solving, critical thinking, and communication skills.”

The job description states that:

People have serious conversations with Siri. People talk to Siri about all kinds of things, including when they’re having a stressful day or have something serious on their mind. They turn to Siri in emergencies or when they want guidance on living a healthier life. Does improving Siri in these areas pique your interest? Come work as part of the Siri Domains team and make a difference.

But how much of a priority is it really?

While I think this new appointment is a step in the right direction, I question if Apple is still placing a high enough priority on improving Siri so that it can provide effective and appropriate crisis support.

The initiative to hire the new software engineer wasn’t the subject of a media announcement by Apple. Rather, Apple Insider reports that the 7 April 2017 advertisement had been spotted by CNBC reporter Christina Farr. She announced her find on Twitter on 14 September 2017, and it was then subsequently picked up by numerous mainstream media outlets.

Farr’s announcement came just two days after Apple’s 2017 product keynote launch event. In contrast to the Siri software engineer recruitment, Apple media issued a series of press releases in regard to the keynote event and the new products it launched at the event.

What’s more important to Apple, and to you? Is it having Siri save lives, or buying the latest iPhone?

Article sources: ABC News, Apple Insider.

Header mage source: siri by Sean MacEntee is licensed by CC BY 2.0.

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Also published on Medium.

Bruce Boyes

Bruce Boyes is a knowledge management (KM), environmental management, and education thought leader with more than 40 years of experience. As editor and lead writer of the award-winning RealKM Magazine, he has personally written more than 500 articles and published more than 2,000 articles overall, resulting in more than 2 million reader views. With a demonstrated ability to identify and implement innovative solutions to social and ecological complexity, Bruce has successfully completed more than 40 programs, projects, and initiatives including leading complex major programs. His many other career highlights include: leading the KM community KM and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) initiative, using agile approaches to oversee the on time and under budget implementation of an award-winning $77.4 million recovery program for one of Australia's most iconic river systems, leading a knowledge strategy process for Australia’s 56 natural resource management (NRM) regional organisations, pioneering collaborative learning and governance approaches to empower communities to sustainably manage landscapes and catchments in the face of complexity, being one of the first to join a new landmark aviation complexity initiative, initiating and teaching two new knowledge management subjects at Shanxi University in China, and writing numerous notable environmental strategies, reports, and other works. Bruce is currently a PhD candidate in the Knowledge, Technology and Innovation Group at Wageningen University and Research, and holds a Master of Environmental Management with Distinction and a Certificate of Technology (Electronics). As well as his work for RealKM Magazine, Bruce currently also teaches in the Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) Certified High-school Pathway (CHP) program in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China.

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