Apple shrugs off BBC complaint with promise to 'further clarify' AI content

Apple plans to update an AI feature that produced an alarmingly incorrect summary of a BBC news story.

The feature generated a headline summary which falsely claimed that Luigi Mangione, a man arrested over the murder of healthcare insurance CEO Brian Thomson, had shot himself. The summary was attributed to BBC News and sparked a complaint from the UK's national broadcaster. The original story said nothing of the sort.

The incident happened before Christmas, and it has taken until this week for Apple to acknowledge concerns over the feature, according to the BBC. The company's solution? Instead of temporarily removing the technology or employing fact-checkers who might ensure accurate information appears on users' screens, Apple intends to implement a software change to "further clarify" when the displayed content is a summary provided by Apple Intelligence.

We're sure Register readers could suggest a variety of emojis that could be attached to AI output to warn a viewer that the summarized content might be inaccurate.

Apple told the BBC that receiving the summaries was optional and reportedly said: "Apple Intelligence features are in beta and we are continuously making improvements with the help of user feedback.

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"A software update in the coming weeks will further clarify when the text being displayed is summarization provided by Apple Intelligence. We encourage users to report a concern if they view an unexpected notification summary."

While putting control over receiving the summaries into the hands of users is helpful, it would be better for Apple to make this an opt in feature until the issues have been ironed out.

The BBC also noted that the Mangione issue was not an isolated incident: "On Friday, Apple's AI inaccurately summarised BBC app notifications to claim that Luke Littler had won the PDC World Darts Championship hours before it began – and that the Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal had come out as gay."

Apple is not alone in the AI inaccuracy department. Google has begun putting AI overviews at the top of its results, occasionally serving up incorrect information that appears factual.

While AI summaries can be useful, Apple needs to make it very clear when Apple Intelligence is producing a summary and when it is coming directly from an application. Otherwise, it risks being spattered by the same AI slop that daubs certain other services. ®