Apple Intelligence feature comes under scrutiny after creating false BBC headline

Apple has been asked to scrap a key feature of its Apple Intelligence AI platform after a major incident saw a false BBC headline appear on user handsets.

The notification summary feature uses AI to condense a notifications panel into a smaller, bite-sized chunk. In principal, that's a really handy feature. As someone with notifications turned on for a lot of different news outlets, it can quickly become overwhelming.

However, in practice, there is still a lot of kinks to work out. In this instance, a summarised notification was sent out, which read, "Luigi Mangione shoots himself." Mangione is currently the subject of an incredibly high-profile murder case in the USA. As the BBC confirmed, he has not shot himself.

In the wake of the incident, the non-profit organisation Reporters Without Borders has called on Apple to remove the feature. The organisation said it was very concerned by the risks posed to media outlets by this technology.

That's a fair concern. The ever-changing landscape surrounding the media and how people consume news makes credibility and trustworthiness more important than ever before. When that credibility is undermined by a platform which is totally uncontrollable for the media outlet, that's a big problem.

It's not just the BBC which has been affected, either. Back in November this year, the New York Times had a similar incident, which suggested that Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been arrested. He hadn't – the story talked about and arrest warrant which was issued for him by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

So, is anything likely to change? Well, I doubt it. Apple is a major company and – in my opinion – is unlikely to take a significant hit to one of its biggest new features without a fight. I'd wager that the only thing which might enforce a change would be some kind of legal challenge – but even then, the drawn out back-and-forth process these scenarios often play out with will probably give Apple enough time to improve the feature anyway.