Apple has pledged to address a bug in its iPhone digital dictation tool after users reported that it suggested “Trump” instead of “racist.”

This issue came to light through a viral TikTok post, where the speech-to-text tool frequently displayed “Trump” as users spoke the word “racist,” and was later echoed on other social media platforms.

According to an Apple spokesperson, “We are aware of a speech recognition model issue affecting dictation, and we are introducing a fix for it.”

The spokesperson attributed the bug to the tool’s tendency to show words that phonetically resemble the intended word before it’s correctly identified, which on this occasion included words starting with the “r” consonant.

The incident sparked controversy among conservative pundits in the US, who frequently alleg that tech giants harbor political prejudices against right-wing viewpoints.

The bug also casts doubt on Apple’s expertise in artificial intelligence just a day after the corporation revealed a $500 billion (£395 billion) investment in the United States, a move interpreted as a gesture towards Donald Trump’s administration.

On Monday, the tech giant stated that the four-year investment will include the construction of a large artificial intelligence server factory in Texas and the creation of approximately 20,000 research and development positions across the nation.

The AI announcement followed a meeting between Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, and Trump. The company could face a 10% tariff on its products, many of which are assembled in China before being imported into the US.

Despite this, Apple was exempt from some tariffs imposed on China during Trump’s first term as president.