Apple is pulling its AI-generated notifications for news after generating fake headlines

Apple iPhone 16 models on display on September 20, 2024 at the Apple Store at The Grove in Los Angeles. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images/File via CNN Newsource)

NEW YORK — Apple is temporarily pulling its newly introduced artificial intelligence feature that summarizes news notifications after it repeatedly sent users error-filled headlines, sparking backlash from a news organization and press freedom groups.

The rare reversal from the iPhone maker on its heavily marketed Apple Intelligence feature comes after the technology produced misleading or altogether false summaries of news headlines that appear almost identical to regular push notifications.

On Thursday, Apple deployed a beta software update to developers that disabled the AI feature for news and entertainment headlines, which it plans to later roll out to all users while it works to improve the AI feature. The company plans to re-enable the feature in a future update.

As part of the update, the company said the Apple Intelligence summaries, which users must opt into, will more explicitly emphasize that the information has been produced by AI, signaling that it may sometimes produce inaccurate results.

Last month, The BBC complained to Apple about the technology, urging the company to scrap the feature after it created false headlines stating that Luigi Mangione, who is charged with murder in the death​ of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, had shot himself. On another occasion, three New York Times articles were also summarized in a single push notification, falsely stating that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been arrested.

A BBC spokesperson told CNN in December it “is critical that Apple urgently addresses these issues as the accuracy of our news is essential in maintaining trust. These AI summarisations by Apple do not reflect — and in some cases completely contradict — the original BBC content.”