Less than six months after introducing a suite of artificial intelligence features, Apple is disabling one of its signature capabilities: aggregating and summarizing news alerts.
The company announced the change in a software update for developers on Thursday. It followed an outcry from British media that Apple's software misrepresented news reports.
In December, the BBC was among the first to urge Apple to change its software. The call came after the BBC sent readers a message about Luigi Mangione, the man arrested in the murder of health insurance executive Brian Thompson in New York City. Some iPhones summarize BBC news stories by saying: “Luigi Mangione shoots himself.” He didn't have that.
In addition to disabling news summaries, Apple said it would add a warning for users who had opted in to receive notification summaries for other apps. The warning states that the feature is still in development and errors may occur.
The flawed summary feature is the latest in a series of problems that have marred new AI products. Last year, Google unveiled a chatbot that recommended people eat rocks and use glue to make pizza. Microsoft has postponed features in an AI computer due to security concerns. And Humane, a startup that raised $240 million for a device called the Ai Pin, was panned by tech reviewers because its system sometimes handled requests inaccurately.
Early struggles with AI products have raised questions about the technology's near-term potential. The technology, which can answer questions, create images and write code, is being hailed for its potential to disrupt businesses and create trillions of dollars in economic value. But some on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley have expressed doubts about whether AI will deliver benefits quickly enough to justify its staggering costs.
“It's tough, it's early days and there isn't a clear value proposition for mainstream consumers yet,” said Ben Bajarin, CEO of Creative Strategies, a technology research firm. “It will take time, and it will be very slow. No one knows yet what someone is going to look at and say, 'That's really valuable.'”
In a note to developers, Apple says it is working to improve notification summaries for news and entertainment apps. It plans to make the feature available again in a future software update.
A BBC spokesperson said it was pleased that Apple had heard his concerns and decided to make a change. “Our priority is the accuracy of the news we deliver to the public, which is essential for building and maintaining trust,” he added.
News of Apple's changes was previously reported by several websites dedicated to Apple, including MacRumors and 9to5Mac.
Apple was one of the last of the biggest tech companies to join the AI arms race. Last year, the company introduced iPhones with an AI software system called Apple Intelligence. It said the system would be able to sort messages, provide writing suggestions and create a more capable Siri powered by generative artificial intelligence.
But the features weren't available on the iPhones that Apple started shipping in September. Instead, it has gradually introduced some features in recent months, such as tools to improve emails and the ability to access OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot via Siri.
The AI capabilities are only available on iPhone 15 and 16 models. The company has limited its availability to English-speaking countries, including the United States, Australia and Great Britain. In April, Apple plans to add support for Chinese, French, German, Italian, Spanish and other languages.
The company made Apple Intelligence the focus of its promotions for the iPhone 16. But the lack of availability in some key markets, such as China, weakened demand for the devices. According to Counterpoint Research, a company that tracks device sales, Apple's share of the global smartphone market fell from 19 percent in 2023 to 18 percent last year.
“There are a lot of big questions about the initial efforts to apply AI to devices,” said Bob O'Donnell, principal analyst at TECHnalysis Research, a market research firm. “In the long run, this will undoubtedly be the right path, but it is not a trivial task.”
