Apple reportedly seeks AI news deals despite Siri summary disasters

Apple is reportedly in talks with news publishers to license content for Siri, according to the Wall Street Journal. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal says Apple wants multiyear deals with variable payouts based on how often a publisher's content is served to users, backed by a possible nine-figure budget. The aim is to let Siri deliver up-to-the-minute information using AI, a significant expansion of its current voice-query capabilities.

The timing is striking given Apple Intelligence's notification summaries disaster in late 2024 and early 2025. The AI feature compressed news alerts and frequently mangled facts, falsely claiming the BBC reported that Luigi Mangione shot himself, Rafael Nadal came out as gay, Luke Littler won an unplayed final, Netanyahu was arrested, and Pete Hegseth was fired. Many of these false claims were attributed to reputable outlets. Apple temporarily disabled the feature and later reinstated it with a red-text disclaimer. Now, with Siri's news ambitions, Apple must prove it can avoid repeating those hallucinations—especially while paying publishers for the privilege.