Apple has announced that it is working to fix an issue with its Dictation service after social media users discovered that when they spoke the word “racist” into their iPhones, it was transcribed as “Trump.”
Apple’s Response and Fix Rollout
The tech giant acknowledged the problem, stating that it stemmed from difficulties in distinguishing words containing an “r” sound.
“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.
However, some experts are skeptical of Apple’s explanation.
Speech Recognition Expert Disputes Apple’s Explanation
Professor Peter Bell, an expert in speech technology at the University of Edinburgh, dismissed Apple’s reasoning, calling it “just not plausible.”
He explained that AI-powered speech recognition models are trained on hundreds of thousands of hours of speech data, allowing them to accurately distinguish between words in context. Given the significant phonetic differences between “racist” and “Trump”, he believes it is unlikely that Apple’s Dictation tool made such an error naturally.
“It probably points to somebody that’s got access to the process,” Prof Bell suggested, indicating the possibility of an internal alteration to the software.
A former Apple employee who worked on its AI assistant Siri echoed this skepticism, telling the New York Times that “this smells like a serious prank.”
Social Media Reactions and Investigations
Videos circulated online showed iPhone users testing the Dictation tool by saying “racist” aloud. While some instances transcribed the word correctly, others initially replaced it with “Trump”, only for the text to correct itself moments later.
The BBC was unable to replicate the issue, suggesting that Apple’s fix may already be in effect.
Apple’s AI Struggles and Past Issues
This is not the first time Apple has faced criticism over its AI-powered tools. Last month, the company suspended its AI-generated news summaries after complaints from the BBC and other news organizations. One notable error included a notification falsely stating that tennis star Rafael Nadal had come out as gay.
Apple’s Future AI Investments and Policy Shifts
Despite recent AI-related missteps, Apple remains committed to advancing its AI capabilities. The company recently announced a $500 billion investment in the U.S. over the next four years, which includes funding a major data center in Texas to support the development of Apple Intelligence.
Meanwhile, Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook acknowledged that the company may need to reconsider its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies in response to former President Donald Trump’s calls to end DEI programs.
As Apple works to refine its AI tools, the transcription controversy highlights the challenges of managing AI reliability, security, and trust in an era of growing machine learning adoption.
