Apple has temporarily disabled its AI-powered notification summaries for news apps in its beta software versions, following a series of errors that caught the public eye. The adjustments come after the BBC reported that Apple's AI system misrepresented news notifications, leading to inaccurate and sometimes bizarre headlines. This move affects users of the beta iPhone, iPad, and Mac software, while those using the main operating systems remain unaffected.
Apple Intelligence, launched in October as a flagship feature of Apple's latest iPhone models, aims to streamline notifications by summarizing them into concise sentences. The system also includes other AI innovations like image generators. However, the software has faced challenges, such as incorrect AI summaries, which have been described as both amusing and evident in their mistakes. Notable instances include a notification that combined 22 BBC news alerts into an erroneous headline and another that prematurely announced a darts player's championship win.
"With the latest beta software releases of iOS 18.3, iPadOS 18.3, and macOS Sequoia 15.3, Notification summaries for the News & Entertainment category will be temporarily unavailable," – Apple representative
The most striking error occurred in December when Apple Intelligence combined multiple BBC notifications into a three-part headline starting with "Luigi Mangione shoots himself." Another mishap involved an AI-generated notification erroneously stating that Brazilian tennis player Rafael Nadal had come out as gay. Such inaccuracies have led Apple to take a step back and disable the feature temporarily.
The company acknowledges that Apple Intelligence is still in its beta phase and has updated its language to indicate that AI software can sometimes yield unexpected results. With the recent update on Thursday, Apple announced that any AI-generated notifications would now appear in italics to differentiate them from standard notifications.
While this move may seem like a setback, it reflects Apple's commitment to refining its AI technology. The tech giant has heavily marketed its AI features as a major selling point for its latest hardware products, positioning itself in the competitive AI landscape that gained momentum with OpenAI's ChatGPT launch in late 2022.
Apple has not yet disclosed when it plans to release the iOS 18.3 software to users of the main iPhone operating system. However, news and entertainment apps like The New York Times have already started showing messages within the iPhone settings app, indicating that AI-powered summaries are "temporarily unavailable."
This temporary pause highlights the challenges Apple faces in delivering reliable AI technology. While the errors have largely been humorous and obvious, they underscore the importance of accuracy and reliability in AI systems, especially when dealing with sensitive information like news notifications.