Hearts & Minds: AI’s fallability is a concern but won’t slow its march

Apple has suspended a feature of its new AI, or Apple Intelligence, service, after the BBC complained about mistakes in news notifications. Among the errors: Luigi Mangione, accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson had killed himself; and Luke Littler had won the Darts World Championship when the competition had not yet begun.

Further evidence of AI’s unreliability where news is concerned, comes again from the BBC. It asked ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and Perplexity to summarise 100 news stories and journalists who were experts in the field rated each answer. They found that 51% contained significant inaccuracies. Additionally, 19% of AI answers which cited BBC content introduced incorrect factual statements, wrong numbers and dates. Gemini said the NHS did not recommend vaping as an aid to quit smoking; ChatGPT and Copilot said Rishi Sunak and Nicola Sturgeon were still in office even after they had left; Perplexity misquoted BBC News in a story about the Middle East.  

The chatbots also ‘struggled to differentiate between opinion and fact, editorialised, and often failed to include essential context.’ The BBC is asking the tech companies to ‘pull back’ their AI news summaries as Apple did. So far, only OpenAI has responded, refusing but promising to ‘keep enhancing search results.’

Putting the independence of a survey aimed at highlighting weakness in the competition to one side it’s clear there are issues with AI’s accuracy where news reporting is concerned. The AI providers must be watched like hawks. The worry is that while the BBC and other mainstream news organisations and journalist bodies understandably jump up and down, does it really matter? Will it slow AI’s onward march, even if the tech remains prone to committing howlers?

The answer is that it should cause alarm and no, AI’s progress continues regardless, with new developments due to be unleashed shortly. In a world of disinformation and misinformation, in which some politicians and influencers ride roughshod over truth, sticking to the facts is becoming increasingly difficult and lonely. It’s a battle, however, that must be fought. It has not happened yet but perhaps there will be an awakening, in which markets are sent crashing by a monumental blunder. The subsequent litigation may make the AI firms understand and bring them to their senses. That’s not to wish a disaster but it may require something of that magnitude to occur. Meanwhile, they must be monitored closely and pressured to improve.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.