An AI-generated notification says the teen has won the tournament before the final is even played.
Apple falsely claims Luke Littler won darts championship
Getty ImagesA news summary from Apple has falsely claimed darts player Luke Littler won the PDC World Championship – before he has even played in the final.
On Friday morning, an iPhone notification based on a news story of Littler winning the tournament semi-final falsely made it appear that the BBC was reporting he had won the whole event.
The BBC previously complained to Apple about the Apple Intelligence feature, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to summarise and group together notifications, when it generated a false headline about a high-profile alleged murder in the US.
Apple has been contacted for comment.
Apple Intelligence, which launched in the UK in December 2024, is intended to give users a simple round-up of all the alerts they have missed.
“It is essential that Apple fixes this problem urgently – as this has happened multiple times,” said a BBC spokesperson.
“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.”
Littler, 18, has generated huge excitement in the darts world on his way to the final, which takes place on Friday evening.
Even though the notification appears to be directly from the BBC, it is in fact Apple Intelligence summarising three much longer headlines.
The other two stories in the summary, about the South Korean president and flu cases, were accurately summarised.
Apple run into some trouble since the feature launched, with inaccurate summaries of news stories and other notifications.
It prompted the journalist body Reporters Without Borders (also known as RSF) to call on Apple to axe its AI-powered summaries of news stories.
“The automated production of false information attributed to a media outlet is a blow to the outlet’s credibility,” said Vincent Berthier, the head of RSF’s technology and journalism desk, in December.
He added it was “a danger to the public’s right to reliable information on current affairs.”
The latest notification glitch on Littler’s semi-final win was received by a BBC News employee.
It is likely that most people’s AI-generated summaries would be unique as different combinations of notifications are summarised depending on the device being used and the alerts coming through.
Apple Intelligence is only available on certain iPhones – those using the iOS 18.1 system version or later on recent devices (all iPhone 16 phones, the 15 Pro, and the 15 Pro Max). It is also available on some iPads and Macs.
The grouped notifications are marked with a specific icon, and users can report any concerns they have on a notification summary.
Apple has not outlined how many reports it has received.