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Apple pulls AI-generated news summaries after feature repeatedly produced inaccurate headlines

Feature attributed wrong headlines to news organizations like BBC, Washington Post

Stephane Mahe/Reuters

Stephane Mahe/Reuters

Apple is pulling a feature that uses artificial intelligence to produce summaries of news stories after it repeatedly sent out error-ridden headlines, drawing the ire of news organizations like the BBC and the Washington Post.

The feature, which was rolled out in the fall, generated headlines that were sometimes misleading or altogether false. Apple announced on Thursday that it would pause the software while the company works on improvements.

CBC News has reached out to an Apple spokesperson for more information.

One of the more egregious headlines falsely claimed that Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, had shot himself. That was wrongly attributed to the BBC, which said in December it had contacted Apple with its concerns.

Other fake headlines said that U.S. Secretary of Defence nominee Pete Hegseth had been "fired," that Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio had been "confirmed," and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been "arrested." None were true.

Reporters Without Borders, a non-profit organization that advocates for freedom of information, sent out a statement last month urging Apple to pull the feature, saying it was "very concerned about the risks posed to media outlets by new artificial intelligence tools."

Referencing the Mangione headline incident, the organization said "this accident highlights the inability of AI systems to systematically publish quality information, even when it is based on journalistic sources."

Author: Jenna Benchetrit

Source: CBC News:

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