The Rise of AI Summaries
Just before last Christmas, the BBC and other news outlets were having a good old fashioned grumble. Why, you ask? Well, it turns out that iPhone users were receiving AI-created notification summaries that were about as accurate as a fortune cookie. For example, an innocent notification claimed that Luigi Mangione had offed himself in connection with the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Spoiler alert: that wasn’t true. Another gem reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was doing time. Talk about fake news!
Enter iOS 18.3 Beta 3
After realizing the blunders AI summaries were causing, Apple decided it was high time to do something. Enter iOS 18.3 beta 3, which includes significant changes to how users receive summarized notifications. Want to enable these summaries? It’s as easy as pie: head to Settings, tap on Notifications, and make your choice to summarize notifications. Just be ready: you’ll receive a little reminder that this feature is in beta and may contain goofs that could skew the truth.
A Cautionary Tale in AI
This grand AI experiment is not without its hiccups. The summary texts will now be displayed in italics, indicating that it’s AI-generated rather than a regular notification. And bet your bottom dollar that any notifications from news and entertainment apps are likely to be the biggest culprits for AI-generated blunders. As they say, let the buyer beware! It’s essential to take this update—and the AI’s propensity for ‘hallucination’—with a grain of salt. So, if you’re already in the iOS 18 beta program, updating to the latest version is a cinch. Just follow your nose to Settings and update away!
