- iOS is changing “Trump” to “racist” when transcribing
- Apple says that the error is now being solved
- The official explanation is the “phonetic overlap”
Iphone owners have noticed a peculiar error in recent days: “Trump” is directed to “racist” when using voice dictation to text. According to Apple, it is a problem with the “phonetic overlap”, and a solution is already in process.
After Tiktok’s videos on the slide became viral, Apple provided a statement to the Guardian and others, blaming the “phonetic overlap” between the two words: “We are aware of a problem with the voice recognition model that drives the dictation, and we are launching a solution as soon as possible,” said a deposit.
While many people were able to recreate the BLIP, it did not happen every time, and the text seemed to return to “Trump” after a brief delay. The latest online reports suggest that Apple’s solution has already entered into force, so it is possible to see what happens.
In his explanation, Apple suggested that their voice recognition engines were struggling to distinguish between words with “R” in them. Other evidence suggested that iOS did not always become the correct “racist” word, although historically Apple’s text engines have been very reliable.
‘Simply not plausible’
Apple will be anxious to draw a line under this as soon as possible and correct the error. It seems particularly unfortunate that a transcription error such as this links two specific words that will surely trigger a wave of controversy and a politically loaded debate.
Peter Bell, a speech technology professor at the University of Edinburgh, told the BBC that Apple’s explanation “was simply not plausible” given what we know about voice to text technology. “It probably points to someone who has access to the process,” said Bell.
John Burkey, founder of Wonderrush.ai, gave an option similar to the New York Times: “This smells like a serious joke,” he said. “The only question is: did anyone get this into the data or slid in the code?”
This also feeds the broader conversation about AI and its reliability, since AI models are used to convert the spoken word into transcribed text, something that you can now do on any modern smartphone. Whether they are meeting notes or shows subtitles, we need to be able to trust the accuracy of this rapid performance technology.
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