Apple to update AI tools after BBC complaint over inaccurate news alerts

Apple has said it will update its artificial intelligence tools after the BBC complained about inaccurate summaries of its headlines being pushed to users using the technology on its newest iPhones.

The BBC complained to the tech giant last month after the AI-powered features inaccurately summarised a news alert about Luigi Mangione – the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare boss Brian Thompson – saying he had shot himself.

Last week, the tools, known as Apple Intelligence, inaccurately summarised a collection of BBC Sport headline notifications, claiming Luke Littler had won the World Darts Championship Final hours before it began, and that Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal had come out as gay.

Summary

The tool is meant to provide users with a quick summary of notifications they may have missed, using AI to create a short overview of multiple notifications sent out by individual apps.

In a statement on Monday, the BBC said: “These AI summarisations by Apple do not reflect – and in some cases completely contradict – the original BBC content.

“It is critical that Apple urgently addresses these issues as the accuracy of our news is essential in maintaining trust.”

In response, the technology giant told the BBC an update to Apple Intelligence would be rolled out “in the coming weeks”, and also noted that using the summarisation feature was optional.

“Apple Intelligence features are in beta and we are continuously making improvements with the help of user feedback,” Apple said in a statement.

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

AI tools

Generative AI tools have been rolled out by many of the major smartphones manufacturers and wider tech firms over the last year, and Apple is not alone in having issues with the content generation technology.

Google’s various AI tools have been criticised for a range of erratic responses, including issues with accuracy in some cases when using the AI Overviews feature in its search engine, and for inaccuracies in historical-based images generated by its AI-powered image creation tool.