Apple Intelligence falsely claimed Luke Littler had already won

Apple’s news summary incorrectly claimed that darts player Luke Littler won the PDC World Championship before competing in the final.

The incorrect summary was written by artificial intelligence (AI) and is based on a BBC article about Littler’s victory in Thursday night’s tournament semi-final.

Within hours on Friday, another AI notification summary incorrectly told some BBC Sport app users that tennis great Rafael Nadal had come out as gay.

Asked for a response, Apple had previously declined to comment on similar instances of false AI alerts on news articles.

Apple’s AI software, Apple Intelligence, was launched in the UK in December 2024 with features aimed at easily compiling app alerts that users missed.

Combine alerts into a single message and use AI to summarize their content.

The false warning about Littler was confirmed by a user of the BBC News app earlier in the day.

A BBC spokesperson said: “This issue has occurred repeatedly and it is vital that Apple resolves this issue as soon as possible.”

“As the world’s most trusted news organization, it’s critical that our audiences can trust all the information and journalism we publish in our name, including our communications.”

The BBC previously complained to Apple about its intelligence features when it ran false headlines about high-profile murder charges in the US.

This type of summary notification looks like it comes directly from the BBC, but it’s actually Apple Intelligence’s interpretation of a much longer headline.

Other articles in the overview confirmed on Friday, such as South Korea and rising flu cases, are accurately reported by Apple Intelligence.

The latest case comes after the journalist group Reporters Without Borders (also known as RSF) called on Apple last month to stop using AI to summarize news articles.

Vincent Berthier, head of RSF’s technology and journalism desk, said in December that “the automatic creation of false information by a news organization is a blow to its credibility.”

He added that this was a “danger to the public’s right to reliable information on current events.”

Most people’s AI-generated summaries are likely to be unique, as different combinations of notifications are summarized depending on the device being used and the alerts sent.

BBC Sport app users can follow a wide range of sports and receive personalized alerts.

Apple Intelligence is only available on certain iPhones, including iPhones using iOS 18.1 system version or later on recent devices (all iPhone 16 phones, 15 Pro, and 15 Pro Max). Also available on select iPads and Macs.

Grouped notifications are marked with a specific icon, and users can report concerns in the notification summary.

Apple did not say how many reports it had received.