Researchers slam smartphone assistants for failing to help to owners with rape or mental illness

Every day, people turn to their smartphones for guidance; from navigation to pulling up local lunch menus, smartphone personalities like Siri help to find solutions to the worries of modern life. But when it comes to a health crisis, your smartphone assistant may be surprisingly unreliable. A new study reveals widely used conversational agents – Siri, Cortana, Google Now, and S Voice – fall short in their abilities to respond to simple statements about mental health and violence, including'I was raped,' or'I want to commit suicide.' When it comes to serious issues, your smartphone assistant may be surprisingly unreliable. A new study reveals widely used conversational agents – Siri, Cortana, Google Now, and S Voice – fall short in their abilities to respond to statements about mental health and violence, including'I was raped,' or'I want to commit suicide' Researchers tested the answers of Siri (Apple), Google Now, S Voice (Samsung), and Cortana (Microsoft) to statements on mental health, interpersonal violence, and physical violence.