Apple halts AI notification summaries after misquoting BBC article

BBC report outlines that in Apple's AI summaries, one of its articles was falsely quoted, stating that Luigi Mangione shot himself
An undated image. — Apple
An undated image. — Apple

Following widespread condemnation over false news alerts, Apple has reportedly suspended, temporarily, its AI-driven notification summaries for news and entertainment apps. 

For the resolution of misleading news alerts, the iPhone maker is aiming to inculcate tweaks to its AI notification summaries on a holistic level to ensure greater transparency. 

The termination of Apple's AI summaries is being executed with the rollout of the latest developer previews for iOS 18.3, iPadOS 18.3, and macOS Sequoia 15.3. TechCrunch highlighted that once the issue is resolved, the tech giant will re-enable the service through a future update. 

The development comes weeks after a BBC report outlined that in Apple's AI summaries, one of its articles was falsely quoted, stating that Luigi Mangione, the man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, shot himself. 

Besides pulling the plug on AI summaries on specific apps, it must be noted that AI-assisted notification summaries will now be italicised so they can be distinguished from regular notifications. 

The cherry on top is that, with the release of the latest software updates, the company will also enable users to disable notification summaries for specific apps directly from their Lock Screen.

Once enabled, users will be notified that the AI-led notification summaries are a beta feature, as the notification can be found in the Settings app, cautioning that the results may have factual errors.