Apple has promised to tweak its Apple Intelligence notification summary tech with the the AI-tech continuing to misrepresent news stories and often fashioning outright misinformation from credible reports.
News outlets like the BBC have been aghast at the way the technology has manipulated the headlines of news updates, in order to batch summarise notifications.
While trade groups representing journalists have called for Apple to withdraw the feature, Apple wants to meet them half way by being more transparent with users.
In a statement to Ars Technica, Apple said it would release a software update that would denote when information had been summarised.
An Apple spokesperson said: “Apple Intelligence is designed to help users get everyday tasks done faster and more easily. This includes optional notification summaries, which provide users who choose to opt in a way to briefly view information from apps and tap into the full details whenever they choose. These are identified by a summarisation icon, and the original content is a quick tap away. Apple Intelligence features are in beta and we are continuously making improvements with the help of user feedback. A software update in the coming weeks will further clarify when the text being displayed is summarisation provided by Apple Intelligence. We encourage users to report a concern if they view an unexpected notification summary.”
In recent weeks, Apple has copped plenty of flack for the feature, most notably in-mid December when it informed BBC News readers that “Luigi Mangione shoots himself.”
Mangione is the suspect charged with the fatal shooting of the United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York in December. Mangione did not shoot himself, did not attempt to, and is currently in custody with police in the United States.
Just last week, in admittedly lower stakes, it crowned the teenage sensation Luke Littler the PDC World Darts Champion before the final had taken place.
In a separate incident sent to BBC Sport app users, Apple Intelligence falsely proclaimed “Brazilian tennis player, Rafael Nadal, comes out as gay.” The story itself was about a different player entirely.
Apple may not be willing to turn off the evolving feature at this stage, but you can turn them off manually.
