Apple has announced it is rolling out a fix for its Dictation tool after social media users discovered that saying the word “racist” into their iPhones sometimes resulted in it being transcribed as “Trump.”
The tech giant attributed the issue to a problem with its speech recognition model, specifically in distinguishing words containing the letter “r.”
“We are aware of an issue with the speech recognition model that powers Dictation, and we are rolling out a fix today,” an Apple spokesperson said.
Experts Skeptical of Apple’s Explanation
Despite Apple’s claim that the issue was caused by phonetic overlap, some experts have cast doubt on this explanation.
Peter Bell, a professor of speech technology at the University of Edinburgh, told the BBC that the two words are not similar enough to be confused by artificial intelligence (AI). He suggested that someone with access to Apple’s software may have intentionally altered the model.
“Apple’s English language model is trained on hundreds of thousands of hours of speech, which should ensure a high level of accuracy,” Bell said. “This probably points to somebody that’s got access to the process.”
A former Apple employee who previously worked on the company’s AI assistant, Siri, told the New York Times: “This smells like a serious prank.”
Apple’s Response and Past AI Issues
Videos circulating online show iPhone users testing the Dictation tool. In some cases, “racist” is transcribed correctly, while in others, it briefly appears as “Trump” before automatically correcting itself. The BBC was unable to replicate the error, suggesting Apple’s fix may already be taking effect.
This is not the first time Apple has had to backtrack on an AI-related issue. Last month, the company suspended its AI-generated news summaries after complaints from media organizations, including the BBC. One AI-generated headline falsely claimed that tennis star Rafael Nadal had come out as gay.
Apple’s Future Investments and Policy Shifts
Despite these setbacks, Apple continues to invest heavily in AI. The company recently announced a $500 billion (€395 billion) investment in the U.S. over the next four years, including the development of a large data center in Texas to support its AI projects.
Apple CEO Tim Cook also acknowledged that the company may need to reassess its policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). His comments come as former President Donald Trump has called for the end of DEI programs, a stance that could pressure major corporations like Apple to adjust their strategies.
For now, Apple’s focus remains on fixing the Dictation glitch and ensuring that its AI-powered services operate smoothly—without unintended political controversies.
