The BBC has discovered "significant inaccuracies" with AI generated news summaries, according to a report the outlet released on Tuesday.
The analysis pulled news reports generated by four of the most prominent AI assistants, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Microsoft's Copilot, Google's Gemini, and Perplexity, seeking to clarify whether they provided accurate responses to questions about the news and if the responses fairly represented BBCs news stories when used as sources.
"The answers produced by the AI assistants contained significant inaccuracies and distorted content from the BBC," the outlet wrote in its report:
- 51% of all AI answers to questions about the news were judged to have significant issues of some form.
- 19% of AI answers that cited BBC content introduced factual errors — incorrect factual statements, numbers, and dates.
- 13% of the quotes sourced from the BBC articles were either altered from the original source or not present in the article cited.
"This matters because it is essential that audiences can trust the news to be accurate, whether on TV, radio, digital platforms, or via an AI assistant," the BBC wrote in its analysis.
"It matters because society functions on a shared understanding of facts, and inaccuracy and distortion can lead to real harm. Inaccuracies from AI assistants can be easily amplified when shared on social networks."
Examples cited in the study were that Google's Gemini incorrectly stated the "NHS advises people not to start vaping and recommends that smokers who want to quit use other methods," when in fact the NHS does recommended vaping as a method to quit smoking.
Perplexity misstated the date of British TV journalist Michael Mosley's death and ChatGPT claimed that now deceased Ismail Haniyeh was part of Hamas leadership.
Apple paused its AI feature that summarizes news notifications after the outlet alerted the company of glaring issues.
The report comes the same day as Vice President JD Vance warned global leaders in Paris that "excessive regulation" of the AI industry could stifle innovation.
The Trump administration's hands-off approach to the burgeoning technology runs in contrast to the many of the world's industrialized nations who are seeking a more regulated approach.
Deborah Turness, CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, wrote in a blog post on Tuesday that tech and media heads need to align to solve a quickly developing problem.
"We'd like other tech companies to hear our concerns, just as Apple did. It's time for us to work together; the news industry, tech companies — and of course government too has a big role to play here," she wrote.
The BBC research was conducted in December of 2024 by asking AI assistants responses to 100 questions about the news and using the BBC as a source when possible.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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