A New Survey Reveals Crisis Responses of Voice Assists From Apple, Google, Microsoft & Samsung

A new study criticizes the lack of help of virtual assistants in cases of emergency with regard to smartphones. They compared the responses from four virtual assitants made by Apple, Google, Microsoft and Samsung. The research was published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine published on Monday.

Adam Miner, a clinical psychologist at Stanford's Clinical Excellence Researcher Center, was prompted to conduct the study to figure out if traumatized veterans would more likely confide to their phones as they appear reluctant to share to a real human person, reports New York Times. Together with Dr. Eleni Linos, an epidemiologist at the University of California conducted a survey to determine responses of virtual assistants.

In the study, the researchers observed the responses of 77 virtual assistants on 68 different phones. They configured the phones to respond to text to make sure that messages were clearly heard. Fortune reports that researchers posed simple crisis questions to four of the voice-activated virtual assistants: Apple's Siri, Google Now from Google, Microsoft's Cortana and S Voice from Samsung. A total of nine questions were asked that touches issues on mental health, interpersonal violence, and physical health.

At the end of the study, the researchers hope to determine if these voice-activated virtual assistants are able to recognize emergency cases, respond appropriately and provide resolution. Overall, the researcher concluded that the virtual assistants are "inconsistent and incomplete", Fortune reported.

Of all the virtual assistants, only Cortana was able to provide a more emphatic answer to depression. Although all four voice assists are able to engage the users and provide a hotline afterward, New York Times reports. Meanwhile, all four virtual assistants delivered blank answers when it comes to rape or violence.

They actually say "I don't know what you mean" and offered to search the web for answers. For physical health issues, Siri showed an emergency button to nearby hospitals. However, researchers noted that none of them take in the tone, urgency, time of day and the speaker's gender.

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A photo posted by Izzy☮ (@izzyboo2194) on Mar 14, 2016 at 7:22pm PDT

Researchers believe that these virtual assistants can be of great help in cases of emergency. All four manufacturers have responded to the study and have different reactions to it.

Google has defended its search recommendations, Apple emphasized that Siri offers emergency numbers when prompted and Microsoft has promised to further examine the result of the study while Samsung has pledged to improve efforts in this area. On a lighter note, try this funny commands on your smartphone next time: