Apple AI Push Notification Falsely States Tennis Star Rafael Nadal Came Out as Gay

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After numerous instances in which Apple's new Apple Intelligence feature pushed false AI-generated headlines to iOS users, including a headline that claimed a star athlete had come out as gay, Apple will be rolling out an update that will clarify when push notifications consist of AI-generated text.

Last week some users of the BBC Sport app received a notification claiming that tennis legend Rafael Nadal had come out as gay, per the BBC . The news organization wrote that the mixup appears to have resulted from an unrelated BBC story about newly publicly out Brazilian tennis player Joao Lucas Reis da Silva.

Initially released in October 2024, Apple Intelligence became available in the U.K. in December. One of the features promised by the company includes notification summaries "that allow users to scan long or stacked notifications with key details right on the Lock Screen, such as when a group chat is particularly active," per an October press release . But that also means that notifications from news apps are subject to AI summary as well, as the BBC noted.

The Nadal blunder came shortly after another Apple Intelligence mishap. Last Thursday, BBC News app users received a notification stating that darts player Luke Littler had won the PDC World Darts Championship. Although Littler did come out on top in the end, the notification appeared before the final occurred on January 3.

Last month, Apple Intelligence also generated a headline that made it seem like the BBC had published an article saying that Luigi Mangione had shot himself . And in a November post on Bluesky, ProPublica senior editor Ken Schwenke shared a screenshot of an Apple Intelligence-summarized notification from the New York Times app, which claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been arrested.

In a statement quoted by the BBC, a spokesperson for the news organization said that it was "essential that Apple fixes this problem urgently – as this has happened multiple times."

"As the most trusted news media organisation in the world, it is crucial that audiences can trust any information or journalism published in our name and that includes notifications," the spokesperson said.

Though Apple declined to comment in December when the BBC first raised the issue over the misleading headline about Mangione, the company issued its first statement on the issue on Monday. "A software update in the coming weeks will further clarify when the text being displayed is summarization provided by Apple Intelligence," the company said, per the BBC. "We encourage users to report a concern if they view an unexpected notification summary."

Press freedom organization Reporters without Borders told the BBC on Tuesday that simply marking down when text was AI-generated "doesn't fix the problem at all." Vincent Berthier, head of RSF's technology and journalism desk, told the BBC that doing so merely "transfers the responsibility to users, who — in an already confusing information landscape — will be expected to check if information is true or not."

However, receiving the summaries is optional. If you have Apple Intelligence enabled on your device, the company told the BBC, you can disable the feature or change what apps use it by going to Settings > Notifications > Summarize Notifications.

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