BBC News has strongly criticized Apple after its AI-powered notification system generated multiple false news headlines, raising concerns about misinformation spread through technology.
The AI feature, part of Apple Intelligence, incorrectly announced that darts player Luke Littler had won the PDC World Championship before the final match had even occurred. On the same day, it fabricated a story claiming tennis star Rafael Nadal had come out as gay, misinterpreting coverage about a Brazilian tennis player.
These incidents follow previous concerns when the system generated misleading headlines about a high-profile murder case in the US. The feature, which aims to summarize multiple notifications from news apps into single alerts, was released in the UK last month and began producing false headlines within 48 hours of launch.
"It is essential that Apple fixes this problem urgently," a BBC spokesperson stated, emphasizing the need to protect the credibility of trusted news organizations. The broadcaster highlighted its position as one of the world's most trusted news sources and stressed the importance of maintaining audience confidence.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called for the removal of the AI summary feature, warning that such distortions pose "a danger to the public's right to reliable information." Vincent Berthier, head of RSF's technology and journalism desk, noted that attributing false information to media outlets severely damages their credibility.
While similar issues have affected other tech giants, with Google temporarily scaling back its AI summaries after accuracy problems, Apple has not yet commented on these incidents. The recurring nature of these false headlines raises questions about the reliability of AI-generated news summaries and their impact on public information.