Delicate bug in iPhone dictation function: "Racist" becomes "Trump" for short
If the English word for "racist" is dictated, iOS may first transcribe it as "Trump". Apple holds out the prospect of a correction.
(Image: Mac & i)
Transcription with a flavor: Apple's dictation function integrated in iOS sometimes flashes the text “Trump” for a moment when you dictate the word “Racist” – until the correctly transcribed “Racist” appears. Mac & i was able to reproduce the phenomenon directly and repeatedly on Wednesday, with the dictation language and keyboard set to “English (USA)”. The unexpected behavior has apparently existed for several days, as documented by users on TikTok and elsewhere.
Empfohlener redaktioneller Inhalt
Mit Ihrer Zustimmung wird hier ein externes Video (TargetVideo GmbH) geladen.
Ich bin damit einverstanden, dass mir externe Inhalte angezeigt werden. Damit können personenbezogene Daten an Drittplattformen (TargetVideo GmbH) übermittelt werden. Mehr dazu in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.
Apple speaks of phonetic overlap
Apple blamed the “bug” on a phonetic overlap between the terms “Racist” and “Trump”, telling the New York Times that a fix was already in the works. A former employee in Apple's Siri team told the newspaper that the phenomenon occurred after a server-side update. He believes it is likely that there is code in Apple's system that turns “Racist” into “Trump” for short – that “smells like a serious prank”.
Videos by heise
In some cases, when dictating “Racist”, other words reminiscent of names such as “Rouch” appeared briefly alongside “Trump”, until iOS finally produced the correct transcription as “Racist” in text form. Siri and the dictation function now work locally on the device for some requests, but sometimes data is sent to Apple servers. How quickly Apple can fix the problem remains to be seen.
Glitches with Apple's AI/ML systems
There have been several glitches in the machine learning-based functions in iOS in recent weeks. These included an unexpectedly appearing intimate image when users entered the word “What” in the system search – as well as appointment entries in the calendar for supposed table reservations. In contrast to this, however, the behavior of the dictation function described above is politically sensitive. Apple CEO Tim Cook has recently made obvious efforts to maintain a good relationship with the Trump administration, and the company has just announced further long-term investments in the US domestic market.
(lbe)
