Apple has decided to turn off one of its new artificial intelligence features that was used for summarizing and aggregating news notifications. This announcement was made on Thursday through an update released for developers. The move comes after feedback from British media companies that raised concerns about inaccuracies in how Apple’s software was interpreting news stories.
Last December, the BBC was one of the first organizations to call for changes. They pointed out an error where notifications about the arrest of Luigi Mangione—who was linked to the death of Brian Thompson in New York City—were wrongly summarized. Notifications on some iPhones inaccurately stated, “Luigi Mangione shoots himself,” which was not true.
In addition to stopping the news summaries, Apple also revealed that it plans to include a warning for users who choose to receive summary notifications from other apps. This warning will inform users that the feature is still being developed and may contain mistakes.
The problems with Apple’s news summaries are part of a larger trend of challenges faced by new AI technologies. For instance, last year, Google introduced a chatbot that bizarrely suggested eating rocks and using glue for making pizza. Microsoft also delayed the rollout of AI features in one of its products due to security concerns. Additionally, the startup Humane, which raised $240 million for its device called the Ai Pin, received negative reviews because its system often misunderstood user requests.
These early hiccups with AI technology have raised doubts about its immediate effectiveness. While AI can perform tasks like answering questions, creating art, and writing code, critics from Wall Street and Silicon Valley are questioning whether the technology can quickly deliver sufficient benefits to cover its high costs.
