In a move to address accuracy issues, Apple has decided to temporarily disable its AI-generated notification summaries for News and Entertainment apps with the latest iOS 18.3 beta release.
Apple released the third beta of iOS 18.3 on January 16, 2025, which includes a significant change to how notifications are handled. Specifically, Apple Intelligence notification summaries for apps in the News and Entertainment categories will be temporarily disabled due to concerns about inaccuracies.
This decision follows several incidents where AI summaries misrepresented news content, notably with a BBC notification suggesting false information about a murder suspect’s death.
Apple had previously committed to revising these features after receiving feedback from news organizations, indicating the company’s response to these criticisms by fully disabling the feature for now.
The implications of this change are significant, especially in an era where misinformation can spread rapidly. For users, this means potentially clearer and more reliable notifications, at least until Apple can refine its AI algorithms to better handle sensitive or complex news topics.
This move could also restore some trust in digital news consumption by reducing the risk of misinformation. Apple has not only turned off these summaries but is also introducing new visual cues to differentiate AI-generated summaries from regular notifications.
Summarized notifications will now appear in italics, and users can toggle notifications on or off directly from the lock screen. This shows Apple’s commitment to giving users more control over their device’s functions while improving the user experience.
As Apple works on enhancing its AI capabilities, this temporary disablement of notification summaries for news apps is a step towards ensuring the integrity of information shared on its platforms.
Stay tuned for updates on when and how these features might return with improved accuracy.
