Apple rushes to fix iPhone dictation glitch that swaps “racist” to “Trump”

A bizarre glitch has been discovered with Apple’s iOS dictation feature. If the user speaks the word “racist,” it has been reported that it briefly shows “Trump.”

The glitch was first seen in a TikTok video that showed it off. Uploaded by “JessWhite2260” a week ago, the glitch has now hit the mainstream.

My dad sent me this video this morning. He told me his friend noticed that when he used speech to text and said “racist,” it briefly changed to “Trump” before changing back. Seems like subliminal messaging to me. I don’t have an iPhone and my phone doesn’t do it. #iphone #Trump #apple #elonmusk #fyp @Anna Matson @Aquarius_Waive @athena @David Gokhshtein @Doxielvr @Hello America @Jason Pargin, author @Jeffery Mead @Jeff Mead @Joe “Pags” Pagliarulo @J.D. Vance @Link Lauren @Tulsi Gabbard @user80861822781

♬ original sound – Jess White2260

ReadWrite couldn’t recreate the glitch at the time of writing, presumably as the issue had already been squashed. However, according to other outlets, several of their reporters could replicate it. On X, formerly Twitter, a user posted a video of the glitch in action.

I also tested voice-to-text on iPhone, speaking the word “racist.” For a brief moment, it switches the word to “Trump,” and then BACK to “racist.” pic.twitter.com/sbng2vFLRm

— Austin C. Mullen (@austincmullen) February 25, 2025

For just a brief second, the word “racist” comes in as “Trump” before autocorrect takes over on iPhone. It’s not known exactly why, with the New York Times quoting an ex-Siri team member who remains in contact with the team.

John Burkey, Wonderrush.ai (whose site is down) claims that the error could have happened after an update to the servers. Burkey also added that he believes it could be a “serious prank” and that someone could have manually made the change.

Apple claims that it’s due to a “phonetic overlap” between the two words. In a statement, an Apple spokesperson said, “We are aware of an issue with the speech recognition model that powers Dictation and we are rolling out a fix.” Theories on this “overlap” circle around the use of the letter “R”.

The Cupertino giant is working quickly to fix the issue, especially as the company is currently courting Trump. Tim Cook, the CEO, attended the inauguration and saw the company donate a million dollars to the spectacle.

Cook has been meeting with the president often over the last few weeks. Reports from his last meeting claim that Cook and Apple will begin investing billions into the US, including building up AI servers in a new Houston lab.

Featured image: Rawpixel, Unsplash

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