Apple is facing heavy criticism for its much-hyped AI tool’s habit of churning out fake news in its AI-generated summaries — including an incorrect alert about the Defense Secretary nominee’s “Firing,” Pete Hegseth.
On Wednesday, Apple Intelligence digests — which are sent as alerts to iPhones — not only falsely stated that Hegseth, who had a Senate confirmation hearing, had been mysteriously “fired”; but that President-elect Donald Trump’s tariffs were affecting inflation; and that Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio and US Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi were “confirmed,” according to a snapshot obtained by Washington Post technology columnist Geoffrey Fowler.
None of the details contained in the AI-generated summary, which was likely sent to millions of iPhone users, was accurate — nor did it accurately reflect the Washington Post’s actual real-time news alerts.
“This is my periodic rant that Apple Intelligence is so bad that it has every fact wrong today [sic] AI a summary of @washingtonpost.com news alerts,” Fowler wrote on social media platform Bluesky.
“It’s wildly irresponsible for Apple not to turn off summaries for news apps until it gets a little better at this AI thing.”
Apple Intelligence debuted last fall and has gradually increased the features available to its users.
New artificial intelligence software has been a major selling point as Apple launches the next generation of iPhones after a period of stagnant sales.
Apple representatives did not immediately return The Post’s request for comment.
“News organizations have complained strongly to Apple about this, but we have no power over what iOS does with the accurate and expertly crafted alerts we sent,” Fowler also wrote.
Several media outlets have publicly called out Apple for feeding back false information through its AI-generated summaries.
Last month, the BBC said it had contacted Apple to complain after Apple Intelligence falsely claimed that BBC News reported that Luigi Mangione, who was arrested for murdering United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, had shot himself. .
“It is essential for us that our audience can trust any information or journalism published on our behalf and that includes announcements,” a BBC spokesman said at the time.
In November, a ProPublica editor shared a screenshot of a case in which Apple Intelligence made a falsely false claim that the New York Times had reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was under arrest.
Earlier this month, Apple said an update to address bugs in the news feed feature would ship “in the coming weeks.”
“Apple Intelligence features are in beta and we’re constantly making improvements with the help of user feedback,” Apple said in a statement at the time, according to the BBC.
“A software update in the coming weeks will further clarify when the text that appears is the summary provided by Apple Intelligence,” the statement added. “We encourage users to report a concern if they see an unexpected notification summary.”
Apple isn’t the only Big Tech giant to come under fire for inaccurate AI-generated content over the past year.
As The Post reported last year, Google came under fire after its “AI Summarization” feature in search results returned many strange answers — including encouraging users to eat rocks for food.
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