Apple’s AI Produces False Headline About Darts Championship

Apple’s AI feature set, called Apple Intelligence, is reportedly continuing to deliver false summaries of headlines from news apps, including one wrongly claiming darts player Luke Littler won the PDC World Championship, before the final had taken place.

The incorrect AI-generated headline was based on an article from the BBC News app about Littler winning the tournament semi-final.

Apple’s AI also generated a false headline claiming tennis player Rafael Nadal had come out as gay.

“Brazilian tennis player, Rafael Nadal, comes out as gay,” the false headline said, the BBC reported.

Image credit: BBC

AI summaries

That AI summary was apparently based on a headline from the BBC Sport app about Brazilian gay tennis player Joao Lucas Reis da Silva and the impact of his openness about his sexuality on the sport more widely, according to the report.

The corporation reported in December that Apple’s AI had generated a false headline about a high-profile murder investigation in the US.

Journalism group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said last month it was “very concerned” by such distortions and called on the tech giant to remove the feature.

The feature was released in the UK last month, and reports of false headlines began to appear “within forty-eight hours”, Reporters Without Borders said.

Vincent Berthier, the head of RSF’s technology and journalism desk, said at the time such incidents attributing false information to a media outlet were a blow to the outlet’s credibility and posed “a danger to the public’s right to reliable information on current affairs”.

The AI feature in question summarises multiple notifications from an app and displays them in a single notification, to save users time.

The false BBC News and BBC Sport headlines appeared on the same day, the BBC’s report said.

False information

“It is essential that Apple fixes this problem urgently – as this has happened multiple times,” the BBC said in a statement.

“As the most trusted news media organisation in the world, it is crucial that audiences can trust any information or journalism published in our name and that includes notifications.”

Apple’s AI has produced at least one false headline for the New York Times app, according to reports.

Apple has not commented on the incidents.

AI summaries have long been known for producing bizarre or incorrect results.

In May, after Google launched AI summaries at the top of its search results, users found they often contained false information.

The company temporarily scaled back the feature’s roll-out soon afterward, before resuming its deployment later in the year.