Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
It’s rare for Apple’s internal decision-making processes to make their way out of the company. But a set of documents leaked to The Guardian (from a former contractor who had worked on listening to and grading Siri responses) has revealed some of the rules behind Apple’s digital Siri assistant and how the company works to keep responses to controversial topics neutral.
The Guardian’s report comes from the same leak that revealed the existence of the Siri grading program, which ultimately led to Apple canning it entirely last month. As the documents reveal, Apple’s guidelines for Siri are all seemingly based on the guiding principle of ensuring that Siri is neutral and uncontroversial — even if it means offering blander responses that…