• February 28, 2025
• Adam Josefs

Apple announced it is rolling out a fix for a bug that caused its voice-to-text system to mistakenly replace the word “racist” with “Trump.” Some iPhone users reported that when they spoke the word “racist” using Apple’s voice dictation feature, the system automatically typed in “Trump” before quickly correcting itself. Apple acknowledged the issue on Tuesday, stating that their speech recognition model occasionally showed an incorrect word with phonetic overlap before correcting to the user’s intended word. “We are aware of an issue with the speech recognition model that powers Dictation and we are rolling out a fix today,” an Apple spokesperson said.

The company did not explain why the system replaced the word “racist” with “Trump.” The issue came shortly after Apple announced a $500 billion investment in US facilities, which former President Donald Trump attributed to his tariff policies. Earlier this month, Trump imposed a 10% tariff on all imports from China, where many Apple products are manufactured.

Fixing dictation bug

In response to Apple’s investment announcement, Trump praised the company on his social media platform, Truth Social, saying, “Thank you Tim Cook and Apple.”

However, Trump also criticized Apple after its shareholders rejected a proposal to end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Apple’s board had urged shareholders to reject the proposal, emphasizing the company’s commitment to fostering a culture of inclusion. “We aim to create a culture of belonging where everyone can do their best work,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said during the meeting.

He also noted that Apple may need to adjust its policies as the legal landscape evolves. The proposed fix for the dictation glitch is expected to resolve the issue for users.