Apple Fixing 'Trump' Dictation Processing Bug

[MacRumors]

Multiple iPhone owners today noticed a pronunciation processing issue that causes the word "Trump" to momentarily show up when using dictation to send a message with the word "racist."

In some cases, when speaking the word racist through the iPhone's built-in dictation feature, the iPhone briefly interprets the spoken word as "Trump" and "Trump" text shows up in the Messages app before being corrected to the actual word (racist) as Apple's processing interprets what was said.

Speaking the word racist with dictation doesn't always show "Trump" first, though it did show up more often than other words in our testing. We also saw "Rhett" and "Rouch" appear before the iPhone corrects to racist.

A video depicting the bug has been circulating on TikTok and other social networks. An Apple spokesperson told The New York Times that the issue was due to a phonetic overlap between the two words. It is not clear if this dictation issue existed prior to today and was just now noticed, or if there was some internal change that caused it. Apple said that it is working on a fix.

Former Apple Siri team member John Burkey told The New York Times that there is "probably" code in Apple's systems that is causing the iPhone to write Trump when someone speaks the word racist. "This smells like a serious prank," he said, though he also claimed that it is not clear if it was added into Apple's code or seeded into data that Apple uses for its AI features.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple Fixing 'Trump' Dictation Processing Bug

 

[sniffies]

I don't think it's a bug

 

[jonnyb098]

WOW! I smell a giant lawsuit incoming!

 

[DMG35]

Someone at Apple has way too much time on their hands.

 

[rictus007]

It’s a feature….

I don't think it's a bug

It’s a feature

 

[cmChimera]

That’s just accurate.

 

[Macbookey]

Looks like Apple Intelligence may have some brains after all.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

phonetic overlap between the two words, and "Trump" and "racist" do indeed have similar sounds.

Could someone explain that to me as though I'm not a language expert?

 

[God of Biscuits]

WOW! I smell a giant lawsuit incoming!

Trump always smells like that.

 

[fenderbass146]

And this is why AI and similar products can't be blindly trusted. No matter how good it gets someone is programing it and injecting bias, either on purpose or unintentionally . All humans are flawed and will put their flaws into the programming when it comes to something like AI that appears to think for itself.

 

[dcingie]

Trump and Racist have similar sounds??? Huh??

 

[Zwhaler]

Somebody snuck that code in. Investigation pending...

 

[chrono1081]

I mean they are synonyms.

 

[TechWhisperer]

Tomorrow US news headlines: “Apple to invest an additional 500 billion in the US”. Timmeh damage control. Lmao!

 

[Lizzard899]

Looks like a democrat is behind this. Someone who really hates trump. BUT anyways, if they can fix this issue then certainly apple can fix the OTHER messages bug which Ive reported on the feedback page many times. Where its not deleting texts on the server end after u delete them manually from recently deleted folder. Its suppose to take up to 4 days to delete on the server end yet its not doing this. Therefore its a bug. My phone is se 3rd generation and im on 18.3.1 but its been there since 18.2. I hear others have this issue too. So its def a bug

 

[bousozoku]

That reminds me of when Microsoft's synonym for Mexican was "wetback" or the original Webdings put three characters together that symbolized "kill all jews".

 

[ThisIsMike]

“….and Trump" and "racist" do indeed have similar sounds” 🤯

I’m sorry, but on what PLANET do you feel these two words have similar sounds? 😂

You know what else sounds a lot like “racist?” Try saying “chimichanga” a few times. Pretty much kissing cousins, am I right?

Seriously, allow me to assist here:
Hump, Plump, Dump, Thump, Trump.
Racist, Bassist.
Now for everyone at home, you give it a try! 😀

(PS I see that as of now, the above-referenced portion of the article has been removed. Apparently someone took my phonetics lesson to heart! 🎉)

 

[Lizzard899]

WOW! I smell a giant lawsuit incoming!

YUP for sure

 

[Allen_Wentz]

WOW! I smell a giant lawsuit incoming!

Politicians tend to not be protected against such things. Many pols might sue anyway just to be abusive, because they can. But Apple is too big to waste effort suing them when you know you cannot win.

 

[DownUnderDan]

Used to be called an Easter Egg. All software has them.

 

[frenchcamp49er]

Apple needs to be investigated by the DOJ

 

[Kar98]

Clever girl

 

[nfl46]

Well…are we sure that’s a bug? Sounds about right to me.

 

[anthogag]

Type “racist” and 4 words should appear “Trump, “Elon”, “Hitler”, 💩

 

[DrJR]

It’s like there are people inside X and Apple who don’t like Trump and Elon and would like to sully them…. I can’t imagine! This is how the haters helped elect them….. Keep it up please!