Siri tells kid to “Shut the f**k up”

An eleventh-hour entry for Story of the Year here, as The Sun reports that an iPhone 4S display unit in Tesco told a 12 year-old to “Shut the f**k up, you ugly t***.” Amazing.

Charlie Le Quesne had rather innocently asked Siri: “How many people are there in the world?” when the automaton responded with the foul-mouthed outburst. As much as we’d love to believe that Siri had gone sentient, there’s a perfectly good explanation.



Charlie’s mum, Kim, sobbed: "The phone was a demo version and was low enough on the shelf for Charlie to have a go with it. He asked it a simple question and we couldn't believe the filth it came out with.

"I thought I must be hearing things. So we asked again and the same four-letter stuff blared out. I asked for the manager and after staff heard it they agreed to unplug it."

So what the heck happened? Well, apparently some pranksters had entered the seven-word phrase as the username, which Siri blurts out whenever it answers a question.

Amusingly, Tesco, which clearly has to be seen to be doing something (think of the children!), said: "We have launched an investigation. The handset will be going back to Apple for diagnostic tests." We await the results of said tests with baited breath.

Posted in: Apple,Apps