The Apple Intelligence-powered Notification Summaries feature had become the target of criticism for misrepresenting news content. The system, which incorrectly summarised the content of major media organisations such as the BBC and the New York Times, caused serious errors that could mislead users. Apple quietly solved this serious problem. Here are the details and what you need to know…

Apple takes action for artificial intelligence problems

Apple Intelligence’s process of creating notification summaries came to the fore when the BBC misreported a news story. The AI created a summary with incorrect information about Luigi Mangione, the murder suspect of United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson. This caused many news organisations, especially the BBC, to call on Apple.

While the company emphasised that the Apple Intelligence feature is still under development, it also announced that it will take some measures to prevent misunderstandings with future updates.

In the latest beta of iOS 18.3, Apple has heeded this feedback and temporarily disabled the Notification Summaries feature for the News and Entertainment apps. The company has begun reorganising the system to completely eliminate incorrect summarisation errors.

One of the biggest changes Apple made was the option to turn off notification summaries on an application basis. Users can now disable this feature for specific apps via Settings > Notifications > Notification Summaries. In addition, a new phrase has been added, indicating that Apple acknowledges the errors.

Apple is currently testing these changes in iOS 18.3 beta version. Although the company stated in its statement that it is in the process of developing the feature, it is not clear for now how it will be followed in the full version.

Do you think Apple’s decision on notification summaries is sufficient, or do artificial intelligence-based summarisation systems pose greater risks for journalism? Do not forget to share your opinions in the comments!