Is the BBC 'Luigi Mangione shoots himself' headline real? Apple AI controversy explained 

A claim surfaced on social media on December 14 that Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s murder, had shot himself. It was shared by Apple AI as part of its summarized notifications. The AI-driven app created a BBC News headline that read:

“Luigi Mangione shoots himself; Syrian mother hopes Assad pays the price; South Korea police raid Yoon Suk Yeol’s office.”

However, the now-viral Apple AI headline has turned out to be fake. BBC News has not officially published any such news. Moreover, Luigi Mangione is alive and is being held under maximum security at the State Correctional Institution (SCI) in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.

Additionally, BBC confirmed that they have contacted Apple and lodged a complaint about the falsely generated AI notification. Notably, the Apple AI feature was launched in the UK last week to “summarize and group together notifications.”

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More about the Apple AI controversy surrounding Luigi Mangione

The false Apple AI grouped news notification that Luigi Mangione shot himself was originally shared among iPhone/ iPad/ MacBook users only. However, it soon circulated on social media platforms, creating confusion, speculations, and conspiracy theories among netizens.

“BBC News is the most trusted news media in the world. It is essential to us that our audiences can trust any information or journalism published in our name and that includes notifications. We have contacted Apple to raise this concern and fix the problem,” a BBC spokesperson told AFP.

Reportedly, BBC has not yet officially verified the circulated screenshot yet. Meanwhile, Apple has yet to officially address the matter. Petros Iosifidis, a professor in media policy at London’s City University told BBC News the latest mistake by Apple "looks embarrassing".

"I can see the pressure getting to the market first, but I am surprised that Apple put their name on such a demonstrably half-baked product. Yes, potential advantages are there - but the technology is not there yet and there is a real danger of spreading disinformation," he added.

Notably, only the Luigi Mangione part of the notification was false. The two other news pieces including the one about the overthrow of Bashar Al-Assad's regime in Syria and the other on the South Korean President’s office raid were accurate.

While this is not the first time Apple AI has made such a false claim in the United Kingdom, it has made similar errors in the USA. For instance, on November 21, three articles from the New York Times on three separate topics were grouped into a single notification.

A part of it falsely claimed, “Netanyahu arrested,” as opposed to the real report which was that the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Israeli Prime Minister. A journalist associated with the investigative website ProPublica highlighted this in a report published on Bluesky.

Apple AI is available on certain iPhone versions including iPhone 16, 15 Pro, and 15 Pro Max, alongside iPads and MacBook that has iOS 18.1 or later system versions on the device.

Apple’s aim behind its AI app is to help users have access to summarized notifications, reduce interruptions by random notifications, and focus on vital news. However, it doesn’t exactly summarize the articles of news portals.

Other artificial intelligence-powered apps such as Google Gemini offered toxic tips about adding “non-toxic glue” to cheese sticks for pizza in a false group notification earlier this year in May. Google called it an “isolated example.” Gemini also falsely notified that geologists were recommending that humans eat a rock each day.

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In brief, exploring about Luigi Mangione

Luigi Mangione was arrested on December 9 from a McDonald's outlet in Altoona, Pennsylvania, as a "strong person of interest" in the fatal shooting of UHC CEO Brian Thompson. He has been charged with second-degree murder, three counts of weapons possession, and one count of forgery.

Thompson, 50, was killed on the morning of December 4 outside the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan, New York City, while he was on his way to an investor's conference. He later died at a nearby hospital and was laid to rest in a private funeral last week. He is survived by his wife Paulette and their two sons.