英国广播公司（BBC）很快就发现发现，自家app的① After the launch of "Apple Asia Vets", the media in the United Kingdom found that their reports had been incorrectly summarized; ② Apple stated that it would release an update in the coming weeks to clearly emphasize that this portion of content was generated by AI; ③ In response, the media Industry in the United Kingdom continues to call for Apple to directly remove this product.
On January 7, the Financial Associated Press reported (Editor: Shi Zhengcheng) that in the face of the embarrassing situation where "Apple Asia Vets" frequently made mistakes in summarizing mobile PUSH information, the technology giant, after a long silence, responded that it would release a Software update in the coming weeks to more clearly inform users which information is automatically generated by AI.
As a preliminary context, "Apple Asia Vets" was launched in the United Kingdom in mid-December last year, and one of its important features is to summarize a series of content pushed by mobile apps into a consolidated message generated by AI.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) quickly discovered that the news push from its own app was "terribly" misinterpreted by Apple's AI. For example, the iPhone claimed in the name of BBC that the suspect in the "CEO of American Insurance Company Assassination Case" named Luigi "shot himself" — but this was neither the BBC's report nor a fact.
(Source: BBC)
Similar issues have been continuously reproduced, such as last week's BBC report about dart player Luke Littler winning the PDC World Championship semi-finals, which was incorrectly interpreted by Apple's AI as if Littler had already won the finals.
(Source: BBC)
After several weeks of silence regarding this issue, Apple finally responded on Monday.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Apple stated that "Asia Vets" is still in the testing phase and is continually being improved based on user feedback. A software update will be released in the coming weeks, which will further clarify that the PUSH summary content is generated by Apple AI.
Apple also stated that if users see unexpected notification summaries, they are encouraged to report the issue to Apple.
A BBC spokesperson stated that incorrect Apple notification summaries not only undermine people's trust in the news organization but also have broader implications for news and information dissemination.
Currently, Apple has not disclosed how it plans to solve the issue. However, given that Apple's on-device model is unlikely to make breakthrough progress in the short term, a more likely change is to adjust the display interface to more clearly indicate that the text is generated by AI. Currently, Apple's notification summaries place a small symbol before the text.
The industry in the United Kingdom is calling for Apple to remove this feature directly.
In facing this "frequently erroneous" AI summary feature, there are also increasing calls for Apple to remove this feature directly.
Alan Rusbridger, former editor-in-chief of the Guardian in the United Kingdom and a member of Meta’s oversight board, publicly called for Apple to take further action and withdraw this immature product. Rusbridger also expressed that in a time when trust in news is being challenged, why should a USA company come in and treat this industry as a testing ground.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the United Kingdom is also calling for Apple to remove this problematic feature.
NUJ Secretary General Laura Davidson stated that at this moment, when obtaining accurate reporting is more important than ever, the public should not be placed in a position where they have to guess the authenticity of information.
