Apple is investigating a transcription processing bug discovered on the iPhone. Apple’s speedy investigation follows a video that went viral showing a user saying the word “racist” using the dictate text feature only for the word “Trump” to momentarily appear.
As the video began circulating and got more attention, many users including myself, were able to corroborate the authenticity of the bug. When hitting the microphone button in the Messages app and subsequently saying the word “racist”, the iPhone will quickly interpret the word as “Trump” before landing back on racist.
An Apple spokesperson has told The New York Times that the issue is supposedly due to a phonetic overlap. It’s unclear whether or not this issue has existed prior to recent days. Perhaps the viral video stemming from TikTok was the first to expose the issue. Alternatively, this could very well be a brand-new issue that’s affected iPhones. Regardless, the Apple spokesperson claims that the company is working on a fix.
Speaking to The New York Times, John Burkey, former Apple Siri developer says that there’s “probably” some sort of code that is causing the transcription error. “This smells like a serious prank,” he told the outlet in the report. Burkey also notes it’s undetermined whether this was manually added to Apple’s code. There’s also a possibility this was a result of data that Apple leverages from its AI features.
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!
It would be funny if it didn't open the larger discussion about programmers /AI trainers inserting their political bias in code.
Remember the black nazis and the Chinese Vikings…..