A false headline generated by Apple’s AI feature led to a misleading summary about a high-profile murder case, prompting BBC to raise concerns

The BBC has lodged a formal complaint with Apple after its new AI-powered feature, Apple Intelligence, generated a misleading headline regarding a high-profile murder in the United States. The feature, which summarizes and groups notifications for iPhone users, erroneously made it appear as though BBC News had reported that Luigi Mangione, the man arrested in connection with the murder of healthcare insurance CEO Brian Thompson, had shot himself. This claim was false, as Mangione had not attempted suicide.

A BBC spokesperson confirmed that the corporation reached out to Apple to address the issue, stressing the importance of accuracy in their news coverage. “BBC News is the most trusted news media in the world,” the spokesperson said, emphasizing the need for audiences to trust the information shared in BBC notifications.

This issue follows a similar incident in November when Apple’s AI grouped together three unrelated articles from the New York Times into a single notification. One part of the notification wrongly stated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been arrested, misrepresenting a report about an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court.

The incidents raise concerns about the reliability of AI-powered summaries, with experts like Professor Petros Iosifidis from City University in London describing the errors as “embarrassing” and warning that such technology could contribute to the spread of disinformation.

Apple’s AI-powered notification feature, available on iPhones running iOS 18.1 or later, aims to reduce notification overload by grouping stories. However, it has faced criticism for misrepresenting content, with the BBC and New York Times among those affected. Users can report issues with notifications, but Apple has not disclosed how many such reports have been received.

These recent mistakes are part of a broader trend of challenges faced by tech companies in deploying AI-driven content summarization tools. Earlier this year, Google’s AI tool was criticized for suggesting absurd advice, such as using “non-toxic glue” to make cheese stick to pizza, highlighting the potential risks of relying on AI without sufficient oversight.