Apple has acknowledged and is working to fix a technical issue with its voice-to-text system that caused the word “racist” to be replaced with “Trump.” Some iPhone users reported that when they said “racist” using the voice dictation feature, the system initially typed “Trump” before quickly correcting it to “racist.”
Apple confirmed the glitch on Tuesday, explaining that the issue arose when the system mistakenly suggested “Trump” after users spoke words with “r” consonants. The company assured users that a fix was being rolled out.
An Apple spokesperson stated, “We are aware of an issue with the speech recognition model that powers Dictation and we are rolling out a fix today.” Apple further explained that the speech recognition models sometimes mistakenly show a word with phonetic similarities before quickly adjusting to the correct word. The company did not offer an explanation as to why its system might have interpreted “racist” as “Trump.”
The issue came shortly after Apple announced a $500 billion investment in US facilities, projects, and infrastructure on Monday, which President Trump quickly hailed as a success for his tariff policies. Earlier this month, Trump imposed a 10% tariff on all imports from China, where Apple manufactures many of its products.
In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump praised Apple’s investment, saying it showed “faith in what we are doing” and that without his policies, the company wouldn’t be investing. He also thanked Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, for the decision.
However, Trump criticized Apple in another Truth Social post on Tuesday after the company’s shareholders voted against a proposal to end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at the company’s annual meeting. Apple’s board had recommended rejecting the proposal, emphasizing that the company complies with laws and aims to create an inclusive culture where everyone can do their best work. Despite this, Cook acknowledged that Apple may need to adjust its policies as the legal landscape surrounding these issues changes.
Trump responded in his Tuesday post, stating, “Apple should get rid of DEI rules, not make adjustments to them.”