Apple has finally reacted. The American firm announced its intention to release a software update to address concerns about the accuracy of Apple Intelligence notification summaries. No less was needed to put an end to the controversy which continues to swell following various recent examples.
A feature in beta
An Apple spokesperson quoted by the BBC declared :
Apple Intelligence features are in beta and we are actively improving them based on user feedback. The next software update will make the displayed text which is a summary generated by Apple Intelligence more transparent. We encourage users to report any surprising or incorrect summaries they encounter.
The BBC has noted several instances where Apple Intelligence incorrectly summarized notifications from its BBC News app. One notable example involved a misleading summary suggesting that Luigi Mangione, charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, had committed suicide. This follows a series of BBC reports of similar errors, raising concerns about the reliability of the information provided by these summaries.
This statement is Apple’s first direct response to criticism from disappointed users of the summaries. For its part, the news organization argued that these errors undermine public trust not only in the BBC, but also in the news media in general.
Although Apple has not detailed the planned changes, it is highly possible that it will modify the user interface in order to give context to its customers. Apple could also add safeguards to avoid inventing news by mixing subjects. The fix could be included in iOS 18.3, which is currently in beta and scheduled for release later this month.
iPhone users can currently control which notifications are summarized by going to the Settings app, selecting “Notifications,” and then choosing “Summary Notifications.” For the moment, only Americans are entitled to it, the rest of us French having to wait until April 2025.
