Apple plans to eliminate AI summaries of new notifications

Less than six months after Apple released a series of artificial intelligence features, Apple is eliminating one of its signature capabilities: gather and summarize information.

The company announced the change on Thursday in a software update for developers. This followed complaints from the British media that Apple’s software was falsifying news reports.

In December, the BBC was among the first to urge Apple to change its software. The call came after the BBC sent an alert to readers about Luigi Mangione, the man arrested in the murder of Brian Thompson, a health insurance executive, in New York City. Some iPhones summed up the BBC news story by saying, “Luigi Mangione shot himself.” Didn’t have.

In addition to eliminating news summaries, Apple said it will add a warning to users who have opted to receive notification summaries for other apps. The warning will say that the feature is still under development, and may contain bugs.

The flawed summary feature is the latest in a series of problems that have plagued the new AI product. Last year, Google launched a chatbot that advised people to eat rocks and use glue to make pizza. Microsoft has delayed features in computer AI due to security vulnerabilities. And Humane, a startup that raised $240 million for a device called Ai Pin, has been scrutinized by tech analysts because its system sometimes makes false claims.

Early battles with AI products raised questions about the near-term potential of the technology. The technology, which can answer questions, create images and write code, has been heralded for its potential to disrupt businesses and create billions of dollars in economic value. But some on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley have expressed skepticism about whether AI will produce profits fast enough to justify its outrageous price tag.

“It’s difficult, and it’s too early and there’s no clear recommendation for the average consumer yet,” said Ben Bajarin, head of Creative Strategies, a technology research firm. “It will take time, and it will be very slow. No one knows yet what someone will look at and say, ‘That’s priceless.’ “

In a note to developers, Apple said they are working to improve the summary of notifications for news and entertainment applications. He plans to re-release the feature in a future software update.

A BBC spokesperson said it was pleased that Apple had heard their concerns and decided to make changes. “Our priority is the accuracy of the information we present to the audience, which is essential to building and maintaining trust,” he added.

The news about Apple’s change was reported by several websites dedicated to Apple, including MacRumors and 9to5Mac.

Apple is one of the biggest tech companies to enter the AI ​​arms race. Last year, the company introduced iPhones with an AI software system called Apple Intelligence. He said the system could organize messages, offer typing suggestions and create a smarter Siri powered by artificial intelligence.

But the features were not available in the iPhones that Apple started shipping in September. Instead, in recent months, it has gradually introduced some features, such as tools to improve email and the ability to access the ChatGPT OpenAI chatbot through Siri.

AI capabilities are only available on the iPhone 15 and 16 models. The company has limited its availability to English-speaking countries, including the United States, Australia and Great Britain. In April, Apple plans to add support for Chinese, French, German, Italian, Spanish and other languages.

The company has made Apple Intelligence the focus of the iPhone 16 promotion. But its lack of presence in some major markets, such as China, has reduced demand for the devices. Apple’s share of the global smartphone market fell to 18 percent last year from 19 percent in 2023, according to Counterpoint Research, a firm that tracks sales. equipment.

“There are a lot of big questions about the first effort to do AI on hardware,” said Bob O’Donnell, chief analyst at TECHnalysis Research, a market research firm. “Ultimately, there is no doubt that this is the way to go, but it is no small task.”