Apple Intelligence’s Notification summary controversy is a reminder that AI will improve with time, and I’m not giving up on it

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Apple Intelligence’s Notification summary controversy is a reminder that AI will improve with time, and I’m not giving up on it

I’ve been using Apple Intelligence Notification summaries since September, and over five months later, I’m still yet to truly understand the benefit of Apple’s AI tool.

Apple Intelligence loves summaries in general, and most of the time, they’re actually pretty good. Whether that’s summarizing emails or articles, Apple Intelligence has you sorted. It’s definitely not a necessity, nor are these summarizing tools worth upgrading to an iPhone 16 Pro for, but it’s a nice-to-have and I’ve grown to appreciate the options.

However, Apple has been in the news recently due to the notification summarization feature completely misinterpreting news from outlets like the BBC and The New York Times. From claiming Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing the UnitedHealthcare CEO in New York, had killed himself to announcing Luke Littler had won the World Darts Championship final before the match had even begun, Notification summaries have been plagued with criticism.

There is so much criticism, in fact, that Apple has decided to halt Notification summaries for News and Entertainment apps altogether in the latest iOS 18.3 betas for the time being, as well as emphasize that all Apple Intelligence features, including this one, are still in beta.

AI requires trust and patience

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(Image credit: Apple)

The AI era of software development is tricky for consumers like me to wrap their heads around; after all, we’re used to features launching when ready with incremental updates throughout the years rather than regular updates to fine-tune the tools already out in the wild.

In the case of Apple Intelligence and AI in general, it’s almost as if we, as consumers, need to come to terms with the fact that smarter software means more mistakes, and more mistakes means more consistent updates.

Apple has a track record of revealing software as part of hardware launches and releasing the features later. Think back to Deep Fusion, which was revealed as part of the iPhone 11’s major camera upgrades only to launch as part of iOS 13.2 months later. This time, however, it feels different; Apple wants users to know that Apple Intelligence and all it offers is still in beta, even if it’s available as part of a general software release. This almost protects the company from criticism, after all it’s hard to call a feature half-baked when it’s essentially still in development.

In the case of Notification summaries, we’ve got our first glimpse into how Apple will react to criticism of its new venture into generative AI, and the company’s response is somewhat reassuring. After an outpour of criticism towards the AI tool falsely summarizing notifications from news apps, Apple has chosen to switch the functionality off for the time being while it works on Apple Intelligence to ensure this accidental fake news doesn’t continue in the future.

This adjustment shows that AI in the iPhone will constantly evolve over time, depending on user feedback and technological evolutions.

iOS 18.3 is more important than we realized

On paper, iOS 18.3 might not be the most glamorous Apple Intelligence update we’ve seen to date, but it could be the most eye-opening. After all, there was always going to be some backlash as Apple moved into an AI-fuelled world, and if, in order to get there, we, as consumers, need to go through some turbulence, then I think we’re just going to have to accept it.

In this new AI world, where every product, from robot vacuums to fridges, has the buzzword littered in marketing, consumers will have to accept that products and their software are likely to evolve, and that demands more trust in the companies we’re buying from.

I’m still bullish on Apple Intelligence and Apple creating smartphone AI tools that are more than just a gimmick, though. iOS 18.3 is the first sign that the company is willing to listen, and that fills me with hope for the future.

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