Apple’s Artificial Intelligence Service Generates False News Alert
Apple is facing criticism after its artificial intelligence service, Apple Intelligence, generated a false news alert that claimed suspected assassin Luigi Mangione had shot himself. Mangione, 26, has been charged with murder in New York after police say he gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week.
The alert, sent to BBC News subscribers, read “Luigi Mangione shoots himself,” despite the fact that Mangione did not shoot himself and is being held in Pennsylvania while awaiting extradition to New York. Two other news summaries sent out by the BBC with the false notification were correct.
Apple Intelligence, launched in the UK earlier this week, uses artificial intelligence to summarize and group together notifications. However, the AI-powered summary in this case incorrectly made it appear that the BBC had published an article claiming Mangione had shot himself.
The BBC has contacted Apple to raise concerns and fix the problem, while Apple has declined to comment. However, a spokesman for the company expressed concerns that the AI service could hurt its credibility. “BBC News is the most trusted news media in the world,” the person said. “It is essential to us that our audiences can trust any information or journalism published in our name and that includes notifications.”
This is not the first time that a media outlet has experienced issues with AI-generated summaries. Other examples include turning a news story about a hike into a report of attempted suicide and a Ring camera reporting that people are surrounding someone’s home.
