Skip to main content

Apple Intelligence errors with news alerts keep piling up, here’s the latest

Apple Intelligence notification summaries are, in my view, one of the early killer AI features. But they’re not without their flaws, as the BBC has continued highlighting via several new examples today. Here are the latest Apple Intelligence errors with news alerts.

BBC News highlights ongoing Apple Intelligence errors

Last month, the BBC publicly aired its grievances with Apple over its new AI notification summary feature.

Added in iOS 18.1, the feature allows Apple Intelligence to summarize a notification’s info rather than providing the actual content as written.

Apple Intelligence is currently available in beta, so Apple says you should expect mistakes and report them so the system can continually be improved.

The BBC is taking that message to heart. The December example involved AI claiming, via a summarized BBC News alert, that Luigi Mangione had shot himself. This was entirely untrue.

Now today, the BBC’s Imran Rahman-Jones has published several more examples of Apple Intelligence errors its users have reported (via AppleInsider).

A news summary from Apple falsely claimed darts player Luke Littler won the PDC World Championship – before he has even played in the final.

The incorrect summary was written by artificial intelligence (AI) and is based on a BBC story about Littler winning the tournament semi-final on Thursday night.

Within hours, another AI notification summary falsely told some BBC Sport app users that Tennis great Rafael Nadal had come out as gay.

Top comment by Dale B

Liked by 7 people

Then turn AI off until it’s fixed, seems pretty simple to me.

You have somehow managed to stay alive up to this point without AI, I feel confident that you can survive until it’s working right. 😝

View all comments

There are undoubtedly countless more examples users have seen, so I wouldn’t be surprised if stories like this continue to become more common.

9to5Mac’s Take

Notification summaries are prone to mistakes for all kinds of apps, but understandably they can be especially problematic when summarizing breaking news.

Summarizing the contents of what is already a summary seems a bit unnecessary in the first place, so I wonder if Apple’s ultimate remedy will be disabling AI summaries for news apps by default.

Do you think these Apple Intelligence errors are a serious issue? How have summaries been in your experience? Let us know in the comments.

Best iPhone accessories

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Comments

Author

Avatar for Ryan Christoffel Ryan Christoffel

Ryan got his start in journalism as an Editor at MacStories, where he worked for four years covering Apple news, writing app reviews, and more. For two years he co-hosted the Adapt podcast on Relay FM, which focused entirely on the iPad. As a result, it should come as no surprise that his favorite Apple device is the iPad Pro.

Manage push notifications

notification icon
We would like to show you notifications for the latest news and updates.
notification icon
You are subscribed to notifications
notification icon
We would like to show you notifications for the latest news and updates.
notification icon
You are subscribed to notifications