Apple AI transcription service generated offensive content from voicemail
Apple's voice-to-text transcription service mistranscribed a routine business voicemail from a car dealership into an offensive message, reportedly asking an elderly Scottish woman about her sex life and insulting her. The failure was attributed to background noise, the caller's Scottish accent, and scripted speech.
What happened
Louise Littlejohn, 66, from Dunfermline received a voicemail on Wednesday 5 March 2025 from a Lookers Land Rover garage in Motherwell inviting her to an event.
Apple's AI voice-to-text service transcribed the message as asking if she had been 'able to have sex' and calling her 'a piece of ****', instead of the conventional business call that was left.
The BBC confirmed by listening to the audio that it was a standard business call. An expert suggested the transcription mistook 'sixth' for 'sex' and that background noise, the caller's Scottish accent, and the fact the caller was reading from a script contributed to the failure.
Reported impact
Mrs Littlejohn said she was initially shocked and astonished at receiving the offensive transcription.
Index analysis
Professor Peter Bell of the University of Edinburgh noted that the speech-to-text system faced challenges with the telephone call quality, background noise, and scripted delivery.
He stated: 'If you are producing a speech-to-text system that is being used by the public, you would think you would have safeguards for that kind of thing.'
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.