Apple has responded to concerns about inaccurate notification summaries created by Apple Intelligence, saying an iOS 18 update will fix them but it’s unclear how.
No further information was provided beyond a statement an Apple spokesperson gave to the BBC. “Apple Intelligence features are in beta and we are continuously making improvements with the help of user feedback,” they said. “A software update in the coming weeks will further clarify when the text being displayed is summarization provided by Apple Intelligence.”
Apple’s spokesperson added that iPhone owners should report a concern “if they view an unexpected notification summary. “I’m just speculating here, but it sounds like Apple may only have a simple visual change in mind.
Apple Intelligence sometimes creates incorrect notification summaries
Don’t get me wrong, slapping an AI Generated label on each summarized notification could certainly help make these things more transparent. After all, notification summaries are currently distinguished from regular iPhone notifications with a tiny icon at the beginning of the summarized text that’s all too easy to miss.
I’m pretty sure that a typical iPhone owner who heard about Apple Intelligence because of Apple’s marketing but doesn’t know what it is or how it’s switched on also doesn’t know the difference between regular and summarized notifications.
Though helpful, a visual tweak won’t change the fact that Apple Intelligence sometimes creates hilariously wrong summaries. If you have Apple Intelligence on your iPhone, I’m sure you’ve spotted those funny errors in notation summaries.
How notification summaries work
The feature leverages large language models to summarize content in direct messages and groups of notifications from the same app to make them more succinct and easier to read. Sometimes, these summaries can be quirky, odd, downright funny, or grossly inaccurate.
Apple does note that “summary accuracy may vary based on content.” Still, the feature started getting bad press when the BBC ran a story about Apple Intelligence incorrectly summarizing a BBC story notification to suggest that alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson killer Luigi Mangione shot himself.
The BBC also rounded up other examples of the feature getting off the rails and creating all sorts of funny summaries. The news organization slammed the feature, saying it was “harming trust not only in the BBC but in news and information more widely” (to which I only agree to an extent).
Apple could have avoided the bad press
Notification summaries were part of the initial set of Apple Intelligence features launched with iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1 updates in October. However =, Apple could have better handled the release of this feature.
Surely Apple was aware of the sometimes funny summaries during the iOS 18 beta testing, which lasted throughout last summer. Apple could have foreseen the kinds of headlines those funny summaries might generate, but even Tim Cook & Co. could not have imagined that the BBC would make a big fuss out of them.
Apple could have avoided the hurt by making notification summaries an opt-in feature. But as it stands, notification summaries are automatically enabled for any installed app allowed to receive notifications.
You can toggle notification summaries for a specific app by going to Settings > Notifications > Summarize Notifications, then turning switches for particular apps on or off. To disable the feature entirely, slide the Summarize Notifications switch at the top of this screen to the ON position.