Why does Siri think the national anthem of Bulgaria is ‘Despacito?’

A curious case of artificial intelligence wire-crossing has popped up, causing Apple’s Siri to erroneously think the Bulgarian national anthem is Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito,” according to CNET.

Image by Nick Statt / The Verge
It is entirely unclear why this is happening, considering the national anthem of Bulgaria is “Мила Родино,” transliterated as “Mila Ridino” or Dear Motherland. But it sure is consistent — take your iPhone out right now, fire up Siri, and watch as history is rewritten by Apple’s digital voice assistant to favor a Puerto Rican reggaeton hit that became the most watched video on YouTube back in August.

“Mila Rodino” is the answer you’ll find on Wikipedia, and it’s what pops up in the search results Google Assistant spits back at you if you ask that software the very same question. So how is Siri getting this information?

You might think it was an issue originating with Microsoft’s Bing, which used to be the default search engine for Siri until Apple ditched it for Google just last week. So we’re left wondering what exactly is going on here.

However, until Apple resolves the issue, Bulgaria reminds the victim of a terrible crime made worse by its current tangential association with Justin Bieber.

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