Urgent warning to Apple iPhone users over 'dangerous' software upgrade
by Bradley Jolly · ChronicleLiveiPhone users have been alerted to a "dangerous" feature which has become automatically active on certain Apple devices after the release of iOS 18.3. This update sees artificial intelligence (AI) features enabled as standard on iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 Pro/Max models, whereas previously, these had to be enabled manually.
Apple's Intelligence not only extracts data from apps and interacts with them, but also requires a substantial amount of storage space to function. Tech pundits have highlighted that the AI feature consumes 7GB of storage no matter what device it utilises.
Moreover, some specialists have tagged the AI system as "dangerous," especially concerning its Notification Summaries function. This tool employs AI to amalgamate various alerts from the same app into one concise summary "to make them more succinct and easier to read," as per Apple’s explanation.
Nonetheless, there have been instances where Notification Summaries have distorted notifications, resulting in mistaken or wholly incorrect news headlines. Petros Iosifidis, a media policy professor at City University in London, expressed to BBC News that although there are some potential benefits to this feature, " but the technology is not there yet and there is a real danger of spreading disinformation."
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Should you have installed iOS 18.3 and wish to disable the AI system, it is necessary to change the settings manually. To accomplish this, navigate to the Settings app, scroll down, and select Apple Intelligence and Siri, reports the Mirror.
To disable the feature, users should turn off Apple Intelligence and confirm "Turn Off Apple Intelligence" when prompted. Launched in December, Apple Intelligence is an AI system integrated into the latest iPhone models, offering a range of AI-driven features to simplify daily tasks, as per Apple's description.
However, Apple has temporarily disabled the feature for news and entertainment notifications to address a glitch, while Notification Summaries continue to condense other notification types, including messages, which have also experienced issues. Data privacy expert Chip Hallett, author of 'The Ultimate Privacy Playbook', cautioned that Apple Intelligence could potentially access sensitive data within apps.
"Apple Intelligence is going to be learning how you use your banking apps, your financial apps, and your location maps," Mr Hallett highlighted. The Mirror has reached out to Apple for a statement.
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