Apple issues response after AI feature claimed Luigi Mangione died by suicide

Apple’s generally been the laid-back tech giant, taking its time with trends. Take foldable phones for example. Those have been around for years, but Apple’s only now rumored to be working on a foldable iPhone and iPad, about six years after Samsung dropped the Galaxy Fold. When it comes to AI and Large Language Models (LLMs), though, Apple is moving almost as fast as its competition. Their AI project, "Apple Intelligence," is available on devices running iOS 18.1 or later.

One of the standout features of Apple Intelligence is its ability to summarize notifications. On paper, this sounds fantastic, condensing lengthy notifications into bite-sized summaries. However, the execution has been less than stellar.

In one notable incident, Apple's AI summarized a BBC headline and falsely claimed that Luigi Mangione, the individual accused of killing the UnitedHealthcare CEO, had taken his own life. This was a colossal blunder, highlighting the potential dangers of relying on AI for sensitive information.

Such inaccuracies have raised concerns among users and media organizations alike. Reporters Without Borders criticized the feature, urging Apple to disable Apple Intelligence due to its potential to spread misinformation.

In response to these criticisms, Apple announced in a statement to the BBC that a software update is planned to address the issues with Apple Intelligence. The company stated that the update will "further clarify when the text being displayed is summarization provided by Apple Intelligence." They also encouraged users to report any unexpected notification summaries.

While Apple has been cautious in its approach to AI, other tech giants have been making significant strides. In May 2024, Google introduced "AI Overviews," a feature that, among other things, suggested users glue cheese to their pizza.

Fast forward to December 2024, and Google unveiled Gemini 2.0 Flash, which boasted native image and audio output capabilities. Meanwhile, Sam Altman and OpenAI have been looking toward artificial superintelligence, aiming to push the boundaries of AI capabilities.