Racist’-to-‘Trump’-

Tech controversy confuses ‘Racist’ with ‘Trump’: Apple’s iPhone dictation bug sparks political debate over speech recognition

 

Apple is addressing a dictation bug on iPhones where the word 'racist' was mistakenly transcribed as 'Trump.' The issue surfaced on social media, sparking controversy and mixed reactions online.

A viral TikTok video showed an iPhone user demonstrating the glitch. When saying the word 'racist,' the voice-to-text feature initially displayed 'Trump' before quickly correcting itself. This led to accusations of bias, with some claiming Apple was deliberately manipulating language. Others dismissed the issue as a simple technological error.

 

Outrage and Conspiracy Theories Online

 

The video was widely shared, including by right-wing radio host Alex Jones, who called it a "subliminal attack on President Trump." Some users replicated the issue, while others dismissed it as a coincidence. One wrote, "This is OUTRAGEOUS. Apple’s subtle manipulation is a clear attempt to smear Trump." Another added, "It doesn’t do it every time, but it’s definitely happening."

Meanwhile, Fox News Digital conducted its own tests and confirmed that 'Trump' was indeed typed out before being corrected in dictation; however, notice that there were some instances in which other possibilities, such as 'reinhold' or 'you,' would instead appear in the window instead of 'racist.'

 

Apple Responds, Confirms Bug

 

Apple acknowledged the issue and attributed it to a bug in the speech recognition model. A spokesperson stated, "We are aware of an issue with the speech recognition model that powers Dictation, and we are rolling out a fix as soon as possible."

Apple explained that the bug causes temporary phonetic overlaps before settling on the correct word. The problem affected other words with an 'r' consonant sound as well. The company assured users that a software update would resolve the issue.

 

Similar Tech Controversies

 

This is not the first time technology has stirred political controversy. Amazon’s Alexa faced backlash before the 2024 U.S. election when users noticed it provided reasons for voting for Kamala Harris but refused to do the same for Trump. Amazon later called this an error and issued a fix.

Reports have been made recently regarding Apple's further investments. The company has announced a $500 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing that will see it hiring 20,000 employees. This step came after a meeting between Apple CEO Tim Cook and ex-President Trump.

 

Final Take on Apple’s Dictation Glitch

 

While Apple works to fix this dictation glitch, the controversy surrounding it demonstrates how small-scale technical accidents can ignite political debates. Speech recognition will improve, but achieving neutral results will be hard for tech giants.