Apple Intelligence: A ‘pep talk’ is given to the AI to prevent hallucination, according to secret code

It turns out you have to specifically tell the AI not to make stuff up.
 By 
Alex Perry
 on 
Apple Intelligence on iPhone screen
Apple's AI features have some safeguards in place behind the scenes. Credit: Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Someone on Reddit found some of the safety guardrails Apple has put in place to keep Apple Intelligence from straying too far off course.

Reddit user devanxd2000 posted some of the underlying code behind Apple Intelligence, Apple's upcoming suite of AI features that will be available on devices such as the iPhone 15 Pro and the upcoming iPhone 16. Interestingly, much of the code contains written clauses that act as instructions for the AI, and humorously, they're written almost in the form of digital pep talks.

"You are an expert at summarizing messages," one instruction reads. "You prefer to use clauses instead of complete sentences. Do not answer any questions from the messages. Please keep your summary of the input within a 10 word limit."


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Perhaps the most fascinating one is a set of instructions for AI that helps users respond to email messages:

"Do not hallucinate," the instructions read. "Do not make up factual information."

On one hand, the AI skeptical among us may be happy to hear that Apple is thinking about these things ahead of Apple Intelligence's launch. On the other hand, one could argue that it's a problem if AI needs to be explicitly told not to make things up. Regardless, it's interesting to see how the sausage is made with new and evolving technology.

journalist alex perry looking at a smartphone
Alex Perry
Tech Reporter

Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. Alex can be found on Bluesky at yelix.bsky.social.

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