There are Apple AI notification summaries; rarely useful, often entertaining

iPhones, iPads and Macs with Apple Intelligence now have a unique AI feature that summarizes notifications. Starting with iOS/iPadOS 18.1 and macOS 15.1, when a lot of notifications accumulate for a given application, the little LLM that Apple has included in our materials tries its best to prepare a brief overview for you using an algorithm. (Part of a group text with a lot of people? I’ll try to tell you what they’re discussing.) Sometimes that’s a good thing. Very often it’s entertaining.

I like the way summaries handle certain Apple Home notifications – like when I read “Garage has changed status multiple times; recently closed” instead of a pile of messages about my garage door. The wording changes, but without a doubt (so far) it has matched whether the last thing it did was open or close, so I don’t have to open my Apple Home or garage camera to check. (I still do this sometimes because LLMs can lie.)

The problem occurs when trying to briefly forward text messages, emails, and Slack notifications. They tend to be in an obscure place, in the same way that a Cormac McCarthy post-apocalyptic novel is talked about Way tells the story of a father and son who go for a walk together. I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but boy does it miss the point.

Add a mini-LLM’s problems with understanding appropriate context to the chaos of human communication, and things can get very entertaining. Here are some examples I collected online from my colleagues at: Edge and from your own phone.

Right after the first iOS 18.1 betas, I saw this gem and read: “Apologies for poor communication; busy life; I’m not ready for a relationship.”

Thread. It’s bad enough to break up over text. Is it better to get the AI ​​summary message first? Well, let’s get to the point. I’ll give it.

If you’re like me, you hate notifications and tend to ignore certain clamorous apps. Now imagine that you woke up at 1 a.m. and struggled to unlock your phone, only to find out that you were about to be attacked John Wick-style by “multiple people” at the front door, back door, and in the driveway.

I think just make sure the puppy is sheltered.

As a constant user of Apple Shortcuts, I can feel Matthew Cassinelli’s annoyance when he learned that no up-to-date features will be coming – Apple Intelligence just merged two unrelated notifications.

If I wasn’t used to receiving random emails about screeners, I might have been very confused by the Writers Guild of America’s invitation (of which Vox Media is a part) to look at her ass. I’ll say it again: context is very essential.

OK, that’s actually exactly what it is OnionThe heading of this email was: Great job, Apple Intelligence.

This is a very awkward set of things to summarize. (And this Microsoft thing? It’s about an AI tool that detects gender 404 Media reported Microsoft accidentally left it busy.)

Oh, and one more thing about the road that came to mind when we were editing this story: