“iOS 18.3 Beta Disables Apple Intelligence Notification Summaries Amid Accuracy Issues”

Apple has reportedly disabled its Apple Intelligence notification summaries feature for certain apps after receiving backlash due to inaccurate summaries in news notifications. The artificial intelligence tool, which condenses notification information for quick scanning, recently misrepresented a Washington Post headline, drawing criticism from both users and news outlets. Last month, the BBC also raised concerns about a misleading summary of one of its news articles. In response to these issues, Apple has temporarily disabled the feature with plans to address the errors before reintroducing it.

The iOS 18.1 update introduced Apple Intelligence features to compatible iPhones, including the notification summaries function. This opt-in feature allows users to select which apps’ notifications should be summarized. However, since its rollout, the AI has produced incorrect summaries, particularly from news apps. In December 2024, the BBC alerted Apple about an error in the AI summary, which falsely stated that Luigi Mangione, convicted of murdering the UnitedHealthcare CEO, had committed suicide.

A Bluesky user also shared an example where the AI inaccurately summarized a New York Times story, falsely reporting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been arrested, when the original notification actually stated that an arrest warrant had been issued for him by the International Criminal Court.

Despite these problems, Apple did not initially take action to remove or fix the feature. The latest error occurred on Wednesday when the AI generated a faulty summary of a push notification from The Washington Post. In response, technology columnist Geoffrey Fowler pointed out that while incorrect summaries are a minor issue for non-news content, they can be more problematic for news alerts. For example, the AI once inaccurately alerted him that Donald Trump had endorsed Tim Walz for president.

In addition to the inaccuracy of the summaries, another concern is the way Apple displays the AI-generated notifications. Currently, there is no clear indication that the summaries are AI-generated, aside from a small icon.