On Monday, Apple announced a significant update to its notification system to clarify when notifications are generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
Many users have raised concerns about mistakes in these AI-generated summaries, which sometimes led to confusion.
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Fixing mistakes
The update comes after a serious error reported by the BBC. In that case, an AI summary incorrectly claimed that Luigi Mangione, who was accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, had taken his own life.
Such errors have made people question how reliable these AI summaries are.
Last year, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Apple’s SVP of software engineering, Craig Federighi, said Apple Intelligence doesn’t summarise notifications it deems sensitive.
Apple has encouraged users to report any problems they see with notification summaries. They want to build trust and ensure that the information shared is correct.
The new software update will clearly show which notifications are generated by AI, helping users tell the difference between those and notifications created by humans.
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Improving user experience
This update is part of Apple’s effort to make notifications easier for users to understand. With many smartphone alerts, Apple designed its AI feature to combine information into shorter summaries.
However, this has sometimes led to what experts call “AI hallucinations,” where the technology creates false information and presents it as accurate.
Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, has acknowledged the difficulties of using AI for content creation. He has emphasised that the company is dedicated to improving its systems based on user feedback.
“Apple Intelligence features are currently in beta, and we are constantly enhancing them based on feedback,” he said.