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Apple responds to criticism of its misleading AI-generated news summaries

Apple is responding to criticism over its AI-powered notification summaries, which recently came under fire for generating inaccurate and misleading information. In iOS 18.3, expected to launch late January, Apple is making significant changes to the feature, including temporarily disabling it for certain apps and adjusting the interface to help users better understand when a notification has been generated by AI.

Apple’s notification summaries, part of Apple Intelligence, were designed to condense notifications into concise updates. While sometimes helpful, the feature faced public scrutiny after a series of high-profile errors reported by the BBC and others.

With iOS 18.3, Apple is addressing these issues by temporarily disabling notification summaries for news and entertainment apps. Users will see a Temporarily Unavailable label under affected apps in the notification settings. Apple plans to reintroduce the feature once it’s been refined to ensure greater accuracy.

Text in AI-generated notifications will now appear italicized, making it clearer that users are seeing a machine-generated summary, and users can now disable summaries for individual apps directly from the notification itself. (Swipe to the left on an AI alert to see this option.)

The changes come after Apple Intelligence was criticized feature for spreading misinformation. A BBC spokesperson welcomed the updates, stating, “We’re pleased that Apple has listened to our concerns and is pausing the summarisation feature for news. 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.”

The backlash and subsequent changes highlight the challenges of integrating AI into essential services like news delivery. Apple’s swift action suggests it’s taking the feedback seriously. For now, iPhone users can expect fewer errors in their lock screen notifications – at least until Apple feels confident the feature is ready for the big time again.