Apple Gives Siri a Psych Eval

A new job posting by Apple is searching for someone who wants to “play a part in the next revolution in human-computer interaction.”

A Cult of Mac news report said that the job listing, which has been active since April, calls for a software engineer who also has some previous experience in psychology or counseling. The position will be in charge of designing and implementing natural language interactions into Apple’s voice assistant, Siri.

“People have serious conversations with Siri,” stated the Apple Careers job ad. “People talk to Siri about all kinds of things, including when they’re having a stressful day or have something serious on their mind. They turn to Siri in emergencies or when they want guidance on living a healthier life. Does improving Siri in these areas pique your interest? Come work as part of the Siri Domains team and make a difference.”

The company needs someone who can not only write complex code, but also knows algorithms and is a good communicator. Speaking more than one language is also preferred.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, was put in charge of Siri. Federighi has been leading Siri demonstrations at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference for the last two years. Some have speculated that the change could mean Apple is placing greater importance on Siri, as Federighi also heads the company’s MacOS and iOS initiatives.

In addition, it was reported in June that Apple is looking to expand Siri’s presence by integrating it with other apps to compete against Amazon’s Alexa. Siri is currently synced with calling, fitness, ride hailing and a few other apps. As Apple looks to add more apps to that list, there are reports that the company could be planning a launch of its own hardware device akin to the Amazon Echo.