According to a recent BBC report, Apple plans to release a software update that will clarify when its notification summaries are generated by artificial intelligence (AI) after reports of inaccurate news alerts. This announcement follows a BBC complaint regarding misleading information from its latest iPhone features.
Apple plans software update to clarify AI-generated notifications
Apple’s public acknowledgment of the issue came on Monday, indicating that the update aims to “further clarify” summarization notifications produced by the Apple Intelligence system. A spokesperson mentioned, “We encourage users to report a concern if they view an unexpected notification summary.” The company noted that Apple Intelligence features are in beta and improvements are ongoing based on user feedback.
Apple Intelligence caused chaos with a false murder report
The BBC highlighted specific instances of inaccuracies, including a summary claiming that Luigi Mangione, accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, had committed suicide. Another erroneous summary wrongly stated that Luke Littler had won the PDC World Darts Championship before the event began and that Rafael Nadal had come out as gay. These flawed AI-generated summaries do not accurately reflect the original content, according to the BBC.
Apple’s notification summaries, which are designed to aggregate and rewrite the previews of multiple app notifications, were recently rolled out in the UK and are only available on certain iPhone models and iPads running iOS 18.1 and above. While a small icon indicates that the notifications are not from the original apps, its significance may not be clear to users.
In response to the errors, Reporters Without Borders has urged Apple to disable the generative AI feature, labeling it as “too immature to produce reliable information for the public.” Apple competes in a crowded AI landscape, with other tech companies like Meta and Google also facing challenges in labeling AI-generated content accurately.
Users retain the option to disable these summaries through their device settings.
Featured image credit: Medhat Dawoud/Unsplash
