Feb. 27, 2025

Apple's AI Exposes Awkward Trump-Racist Connection While CIA Agents Get Outed in Mass Layoff Email

Show Notes
Transcript

Former Siri developer reveals possible "serious prank" in Apple's dictation system as it briefly transcribes "racist" as "Trump" before correcting itself. Meanwhile, the CIA faces a potential security nightmare after an unclassified White House email about federal layoffs may have compromised undercover agents during Trump-Musk's workforce purge. All this as Trump orders "maximum elimination" of federal jobs and a mysterious deadly disease spreads in Congo leaving fifty-three dead. Patrick Gutfield breaks down the most shocking headlines with his signature no-holds-barred commentary.

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Calorokashark Media from Washington, DC, where We're sorry we revealed

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who all the spies are. This is ballad, that's right,

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but don't worry spies, we were just gonna lay you off. Anyway.

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Let's hit this breaking news from the tech world that

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sort of set Twitter on fire. Apple's dictation system has

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been playing a little game of word association that nobody

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asked for. Seems their fancy AI has been transcribing the

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word racist as Trump before quickly correcting itself. Talk about

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an awkward auto correct. This is absolutely real. I tried

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it myself, and although I had to do it a

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few times, I saw it. It would say racist trump

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and then delete the word trump as if you hit backspace.

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I know, I'm just some boso podcaster, but the New

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York Times replicated this bug multiple times, so it's not

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just some Internet hoax. Apple's spokeswoman claims there's a phonetic

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overlap between the two words. Really racist and trump sound alike.

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What dictation system are they using? One that graduated from

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the school of political Freudian slips. An expert named John Burki,

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who used to work on Apple's Siri team, says this

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started after a server update. But here's where it gets juicy.

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He thinks this wasn't just a technical glitch, but potentially

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a serious prank. Someone at Apple might have slipped this

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little Easter egg into the code deliberately. Oops. I guess

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Apple's autocorrect is just trying to spice up our text messages.

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Next thing, you know, Hello will auto correct to help me.

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I'm trapped in an iPhone factory. Meanwhile, the CIA is

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having a bit of a catastrophic week, which isn't exactly

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what you want from an organization whose entire purpose is

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keeping secrets. Turns out, some genius sent out an unclassified

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White House email about layoffs that may have compromised undercover agents.

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The email identify agents by their first name and last initial, which,

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in spy world is basically like writing hello, I am

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a spy on your forehead with a sharpie. The CIA

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is now scrambling to assess just how much damage was

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done by this February email, which went out during President

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Trump and Elon Musk's federal workforce massacre via the Department

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of Government Efficiency. You know, I thought spies had cool

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gadgets and secret identities. Turns out they just have terrible

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HR departments and get outed in company wide emails. Dear

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James b your mission to infiltrate the terrorist cell is

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going great, but unfortunately we're downsizing your department. DOJE, which

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sounds like what you name your golden retriever, is firing

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tens of thousands of workers at breakneck speed. Officials are

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worried this might jeopardize some of the government's most sensitive work.

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You think the most terrifying possibility is that a group

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of disgruntled CAA agents. Oh no, I misspoke. CAAA agents

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are the guys mad at Calaroga Shark Media at how

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little I get paid. I meant CIA agents. Anyway, The

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worry is that those guys might take their James Bond

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knowledge straight to a foreign intelligence agency. One official pointed

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out that firing someone from the Department of Agriculture is

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a bit different than firing someone who knows where all

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the secret missiles are hidden. Well, the pink slip factory

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just kicked into overdrive. The Trump administration has formally instructed

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federal agencies to promptly begin preparations for what they're calling

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large scale layoffs and restructuring. Translation Washington, bureaucrats are about

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to experience what the rest of America calls Wednesday. According

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to a memo obtained by ABC News, agencies have until

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March thirteenth to submit their plans for downsizing their workforces.

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That's just enough time for government employees to perfect their

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resumes and practice saying would you like fries with that?

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The memo comes from White House Budget Director Russ Bought

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and Charles Izel, head of the Office of Personnel Management. Basically,

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they're the two horsemen of the bureaucratic apocalypse, riding through

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the federal halls with their clipboards of doom. President Trump

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is directing agencies to focus on maximum elimination of functions

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that are not statutorily mandated. I haven't heard the phrase

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maximum elimination. Use this aggressively since my doctor reviewed my

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kolonoscopy results. And here's where it gets interesting. The memo

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encourages agencies to implement technical solutions that automate routine tasks.

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So not only are you losing your job, but you're

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being replaced by a computer that doesn't need health insurance

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or bathroom breaks. That's efficiency. There are some exemptions, of course,

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law enforcement, border security, national security, immigration enforcement, and public

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safety roles are safe. Also exempt our military personnel, the Coastguard,

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public Health Service, and commissioned officers in the National Oceanic

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and Atmospheric Association, because nothing says essential like knowing if

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it's going to rain tomorrow. The directive also spares the

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US Postal Service, the Executive Office of the President, and

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any presidential appointments. Shocking that the people who wrote the

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memo made sure their own jobs were safe. That's like

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the captain of the Titanic installing a personal jet ski.

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Social Security, Medicare, and Veterans' healthcare get a temporary reprieve too.

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They need special permission before they can start firing people.

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I guess someone realized that making Grandma wait three years

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for her check instead of two might not play well

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in the Polls. Embark on an extraordinary journey into the

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heart of one of the world's most ancient and mysterious

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This captivating podcast series takes listeners behind the scenes of

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the Catholic Church's most solemn and consequential event, the passing

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of a pope and the selection of his successor. From

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the moment the silver hammer strikes the Pope's four had

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three times to confirm his death, to the burning of

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his papal ring. White Smoke unveils the intricate rituals and

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closely guarded traditions that mark this sacred transition. Listeners will

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gain unprecedented insight into the secret conversations and centuries old

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customs that guide the Cardinals in their selection of the

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next leader of the world's one billion Catholics. Whether you

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are a devout Catholic, a student of history, or simply

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fascinated by the workings of one of the world's most

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enduring institutions, White Smoke is an immersive and illuminating journey

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White Smoke wherever you get your shows. Who needs the

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World Health Organization anyway? So what if there's a new

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unknown disease spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which

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is like saying there's an unknown liquid in my cup.

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It's probably coffee, but could be gasoline. Either way, don't

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drink it. The World Health Organization reports four hundred and

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thirty one cases and fifty three deaths since January. That's

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quite a kill count for something that doesn't even have

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a name yet. It's like the Jason Born of diseases,

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deadly efficient and terrible with introductions. Early investigations trace the

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outbreak to three kids under five years old who developed

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symptoms after eating a bat carcass. Now I'm no parenting expert,

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but maybe don't eat random dead bats should be higher

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on the childcare priority list, just saying. The symptoms start

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with fever, headache, diarrhea, and fatigue, which sounds like every

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Monday morning I've ever experienced before, progressing to hemorrhagic fever

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and death, which is decidedly less like my Monday's. Officials

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have already ruled out ebola and marburn, which is sort

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of like saying good news, it's not a tiger or

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a lion eating your face, it's something else with big teeth.

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Nearly half of the deaths occurred within forty eight hours

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after symptoms started, making this mystery illness faster than Amazon Prime.

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The WHO helpfully notes that the remote location and weak

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health care infrastructure increase the risk of further spread. Translation

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this is happening in a place with dirt roads and

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clinics that might actually be abandoned sheds. So good luck

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with that. Remember when disease outbreaks were exciting and novel.

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Oh wait, that was just three years ago. Now it's

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like another potentially catastrophic pathogen. Put it on the list

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between climate collapse and artificial intelligence uprising. Anyway, if there

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is a worldwide pandemic, at least Trump can say he's

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the most experienced president at mishandling one. In related news,

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Texas has one hundred and twenty four measles cases, mostly

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among the unvaccinated, because apparently some Americans looked at Congo's

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unknown disease situation and thought that but with completely preventable diseases,

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that's the vibe we're going for. Anyone seen Bobby Kennedy

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of Today's show were made with the help of AI

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some bats in a totally accidental iPhone glitch.