Apple has not yet responded
What just happened? Just days after Apple's AI-powered notification summary tool published a fake BBC headline about Luigi Mangione, a major trade body is urging the company to remove the feature altogether. It's the latest setback in Apple's attempts to convince customers that its AI is worth using.
On December 13, Apple Intelligence, which has a history of making significant errors when it comes to summarizing notifications, published a summary of several BBC headlines that included the claim that Mangione had committed suicide. The incident occurred just 48 hours after the launch of Apple Intelligence in the UK.
Courtesy of BBC News
Mangione, who was arrested and charged with the first-degree murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York, did not commit suicide. He remains in custody at the Huntingdon State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania.
This is certainly not the first time that Apple Intelligence has made a mistake in a summary notification. He previously claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arrested after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), an international non-profit NGO dedicated to protecting the right to freedom of information, is calling on Apple to disable the notification summary feature.
RSF writes that this incident illustrates how generative AI services are still too immature to produce reliable information for the public and should not be allowed on the market for such uses.
The group added that the probabilistic way AI systems operate automatically disqualifies them as a reliable technology for news media.
“AIs are probability machines and facts cannot be decided by a roll of the dice. RSF calls on Apple to act responsibly by removing this functionality. The automated production of false information attributed to a media outlet is a blow to its credibility. and a danger for the public's right to reliable information on current events, declares Vincent Berthier, head of RSF's Technology and Journalism desk.
“EU AI law – despite being the most advanced legislation in the world in this area – has not classified information-generating AIs as high-risk systems, leaving a critical legal gap. This gap must be filled immediately. »
The BBC contacted Apple when it became aware of the fake headline to raise concerns and ask the company to resolve the issue.
The summary notice in question showed three headlines: the false one on Mangione, and two correct headlines, on the overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria and an update on South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Apple says its AI's summarization capability allows users to analyze long or stacked notifications with key details right on the lock screen, such as when a group chat is particularly active. He often gets summaries wrong or fails to understand their context, sometimes hilariously.
Spreading fake news is always going to get Apple in trouble, especially at a time when companies are trying to convince people that AI is the future of almost everything. Apple has yet to respond to the incident, but don't expect it to permanently remove the feature. At most, Cupertino could deactivate it for a while.
Related News :