Social media users with iPhones have been falling for a rather chancy and potentially hazardous practical joke that involves their AI bot Siri.
Messages like the ones below have been floating across social media imploring iPhone owning readers to open their Siri feature and say “Nine Eleven”.
tell siri ” Nine eleven” her response is awesome
and
Tell Siri nine eleven, it’s crazy what she says back
And plenty of people obliged, without thinking. Of course “Nine Eleven” is the emergency service number in the United States (more commonly referred to as nine-one-one), but also works in many other countries as well, including the UK. Because the term nine-eleven is more commonly used to describe the World Trade Center September 2001 attacks, many failed to see the connection between the number and the emergency services number.
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Saying the number into Siri will result in it dialling out to the emergency services. For those who cannot fumble for the Cancel button fast enough, it is easy to see how this can become an annoyance for emergency service dispatchers.
You’ll end up seeing a screen like this.
In fact according to one report on social media site Reddit, one victim of the hoax found two police cars sent to their house after inadvertently dialling the emergency services.
Thus spreading the joke onto friends certainly isn’t recommended.
