LONDON — Apple is addressing an issue with the dictation feature on some iPhones that unexpectedly suggests the word “Trump” when certain words containing the consonant “R” are spoken, including the word “racist.”
The tech company is taking action following reports from iPhone users who shared videos on social media showcasing the glitch. When the dictation function was activated, saying “racist” initially displayed “Trump” in the text window, before being quickly replaced by the intended word, as demonstrated in several online videos.
In a statement, Apple announced, “We are aware of an issue with the speech recognition model that powers Dictation and we are rolling out a fix today.” According to Apple, the speech recognition models responsible for the voice-to-text functionality sometimes produce words with similar phonetic sounds.
Moreover, Apple acknowledged that other words containing the “r” consonant were also mistakenly activating the bug. By Wednesday, the issue could no longer be reproduced, as the glitch had initially appeared the previous day.
Meanwhile, the company revealed plans to invest over $500 billion in the United States, intending to hire 20,000 new employees over the next four years and construct a new factory in Texas. These efforts are part of Apple’s strategy amidst the U.S. administration’s threats to impose tariffs on imports. Separately, Apple shareholders dismissed a proposal to pressure the company into supporting a federal push to remove diversity-focused corporate programs.
