Urgent warning to millions of iPhone users as Apple turns on 'dangerous' feature automatically

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iPhone users have been issued a warning about a "dangerous" feature that's been automatically enabled on some Apple devices after a recent software update. The introduction of iOS 18.3 has seen artificial intelligence (AI) features on iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 Pro/Max models activated by default, a change from when users had to turn these on themselves.

Not only does the Apple Intelligence system gather information from apps and take action within them, but it also requires a significant amount of storage space to operate. Tech gurus have highlighted that the AI system will occupy 7GB, no matter which device it's running on.

Some experts have labelled the AI system as "dangerous," especially concerning its Notification Summaries feature. This function uses AI to consolidate multiple notifications from the same app into a single, concise summary "to make them more succinct and easier to read," as per Apple's description.

However, there have been instances where Notification Summaries has misinterpreted notifications, leading to misleading or completely incorrect news headlines. Petros Iosifidis, a professor in media policy at City University in London, expressed to BBC News that while there are potential benefits to this kind of feature, " but the technology is not there yet and there is a real danger of spreading disinformation."

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For those who have installed iOS 18.3 but wish to disable the AI system, they'll need to manually adjust the default settings. To do this, simply open the Settings app, scroll down, and select Apple Intelligence and Siri, reports the Mirror.

Next, switch off Apple Intelligence and when the prompt appears, confirm "Turn Off Apple Intelligence". Launched in December, Apple Intelligence is an AI system integrated into the latest iPhone models.

Apple claims it brings a host of new AI-driven features and capabilities to streamline daily tasks on your iPhone. However, Apple has disabled this feature for news and entertainment alerts, stating that it is working on resolving the issue.

Notification Summaries will still collate other types of notifications, such as messages – though this has been known to have issues too. Data privacy specialist and writer of 'The Ultimate Privacy Playbook', Chip Hallett, has cautioned that Apple Intelligence could access sensitive data within your apps.

"Apple Intelligence is going to be learning how you use your banking apps, your financial apps, and your location maps," Mr Hallett explained. The Mirror has reached out to Apple for a statement.

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