Apple to clarify that its bad notification summaries are provided by Apple Intelligence
iPhone screenshot of the misleading BBC notification (image: BBC)
Apple will soon release operating system updates to improve clarity around when notifications have been summarized by its Apple Intelligence software. This move follows significant criticism of the summarization feature, notably from the BBC, which cited inaccuracies in the AI’s summaries of its news notifications.
Zoe Kleinman, Liv McMahon, and Natalie Sherman for BBC News:
Apple is facing fresh calls to withdraw its controversial artificial intelligence (AI) feature that has generated inaccurate news alerts on its latest iPhones.
The product is meant to summarise breaking news notifications but has in some instances invented entirely false claims.
The BBC first complained to the tech giant about its journalism being misrepresented in December but Apple did not respond until Monday this week, when it said it was working to clarify that summaries were AI-generated.
Alan Rusbridger, the former editor of the Guardian, told the BBC Apple needed to go further and pull a product he said was “clearly not ready.”
“Trust in news is low enough already without giant American corporations coming in and using it as a kind of test product,” he told the Today programme, on BBC Radio Four.
MacDailyNews Take: Trust in news is not low due to AI. It’s due to liars pretending to be journalists, bastardizing the profession.
Kleinman, McMahon, and Sherman continue:
The BBC complained last month after an AI-generated summary of its headline falsely told some readers that Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, had shot himself.
This marks the first time Apple has formally responded to the concerns voiced by the BBC about the errors, which appear as if they are coming from within the organisation’s app.
“These AI summarisations by Apple do not reflect – and in some cases completely contradict – the original BBC content,” the BBC said on Monday.
“Apple Intelligence features are in beta and we are continuously making improvements with the help of user feedback,” the company said in a statement on Monday, adding that receiving the summaries is optional.
“A software update in the coming weeks will further clarify when the text being displayed is summarization provided by Apple Intelligence. We encourage users to report a concern if they view an unexpected notification summary.”
MacDailyNews Take: The Beeb complaining of “misleading headlines” is the height of irony.
AI is the wild, wild west right now. Apple Intelligence features will get refined.
In iOS 18.2 Settings > Notifications > Notification Summaries clearly states, “Summary accuracy may vary based on content.”
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