Apple has announced that it will update, rather than suspend, its new artificial intelligence (AI) feature that generated inaccurate news alerts on its latest iPhones.
In its first response to concerns, the company confirmed on Monday that it is working on a software update to "further clarify" when notifications are summaries generated by Apple’s AI system, the BBC reports.
What to know about Apple's $95 million settlement of the snooping Siri case
The BBC raised concerns last month after an AI-generated summary of its headline mistakenly informed readers that Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, had shot himself.
Recently, Apple’s AI inaccurately summarised BBC app notifications, claiming that Luke Littler had won the PDC World Darts Championship hours before it started, and that Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal had come out as gay.
This is the first time Apple has formally acknowledged the issues raised by the BBC, who pointed out that these errors appeared as though they originated from the BBC’s own app.
The BBC said that these AI summaries by Apple do not reflect – and in some cases completely contradict – the original BBC content.
Apple to pay $95 million to settle lawsuit accusing Siri of eavesdropping
"It is critical that Apple urgently addresses these issues as the accuracy of our news is vital for maintaining trust."
Apple said that the update would be available "in the coming weeks."
The company had previously explained that its notification summaries aim to allow users to "scan for key details" by combining and rewriting multiple recent app notifications into a single alert on the lock screen.
"Apple Intelligence features are in beta and we are continuously making improvements with the help of user feedback," the company said in a statement on Monday. It also emphasised that receiving the summaries is optional.
The feature, along with other AI tools, is only available on iPhone 16 models, iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max handsets running iOS 18.1 and above, and some iPads and Macs.
RSF urges Apple to scrap AI feature after misleading headline incident
Reporters Without Borders, an organisation representing journalists, urged Apple to disable the feature in December, saying that the false headline about Mangione showed that "generative AI services are still too immature to produce reliable information for the public."
Apple is not the only company that has launched generative AI tools capable of creating text, images, and more. Google’s AI summary feature, which provides written summaries of search results, also faced criticism last year for delivering some erratic responses. A Google spokesperson said these were "isolated examples" and that the feature was generally working well.