17 January 2025 , 13:04
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Inaccurate notices branded with broadcaster’s logo sent to iPhone users but tech firm works on improvements.
Apple is suspending an artificial intelligence feature that made inaccurate summaries of news headlines.
The tech company received a complaint from the BBC after the AI-generated service issued a news alert branded with the corporation’s logo falsely telling some iPhone users that Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing the UnitedHealthcare chief executive, Brian Thompson, had shot himself.
Other false notices that carried the BBC logo included one claiming Luke Littler had won the PDC World Darts final before playing in it and another that the tennis player Rafael Nadal had “come out” as gay.
Apple said in a statement that the feature would be suspended as part of its next software update, due imminently. Other news organisations were affected by the errors, with a summary of New York Times alerts wrongly claiming that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had been arrested.
“Notification summaries for the news and entertainment category will be temporarily unavailable,” Apple said. “We are working on improvements and will make them available in a future software update.”
The news summaries are part of Apple’s drive to include more AI features in its products, under the label Apple Intelligence – which is available in the US, UK, Australia and Canada but not in the EU and China.
Apple had previously said it would update, rather than suspend, the feature. In the UK, the National Union of Journalists had called for the service to be removed to “ensure it plays no role in contributing to the misinformation already prevalent and causing harm to journalism online”.
The feature summarised users’ news notifications and grouped them into a single alert on their lock screens. Apple is working on a version that will warn iPhone users of potential errors and will use italicised text.
“We’re pleased that Apple has listened to our concerns and is pausing the summarisation feature for news,” a BBC spokesperson said. “We look forward to working with them constructively on next steps. Our priority is the accuracy of the news we deliver to audiences which is essential to building and maintaining trust.”