Apple's AI Mishap: iPhones Suggest Contacting Deceased Relatives

Apple iPhones Are Asking Users to Check In With Dead Relatives. Siri, What's Up With That?

The feature was released with iOS 17 but does not appear to change with the latest iOS 18 update. Apple's virtual assistant Siri wants you to check in with friends and family, even if you live on different continents, are divorced, or one of you is dead. The New York Times reports on a strange prompt many iPhone users have been receiving on their phones: a suggestion to "Start a Check-In" with someone and "Let them know when you arrive at your destination." Related: Sales of This One Throwback Device Grew 14-Fold in a Year -- And Your Boss May Be Using One Sounds nice, but the odd thing about this feature, as several users told the Times and have posted about on Reddit, is that Siri often suggests random and sometimes upsetting people to "Check In" with. One user named Simon explained that Siri suggested that he alert a friend that he got home safely. The weird thing was that this friend was Simon's old roommate who lived nearly 5,000 miles away. "I found it funny," Simon said. "He is in my Favorites on my phone, so I'm guessing that's how Apple does these recommendations. But it still just doesn't make any sense, because I also have his address saved in my contacts, so my phone should know that we live on different continents." Another user, Leo Margul, explained that he's been prompted twice by Siri to check in with his mother after leaving concerts. Siri did not take into account that leaving a show at midnight in Los Angeles would mean Margul alerting his mother at 3 a.m. in Boston. Margul posted about it on Reddit, and some commenters said they received similar prompts -- some saying that Siri suggested that they reach out to their now-deceased parents. Related: Apple Adds AI Writing Tools to the iPhone 16. Here's Why That Could Be a Problem. The Start a Check-In feature was released with iOS 17 last year. The iOS 18 update doesn't appear to change it. While some told the Times that they appreciated the prompts to reconnect with people who have been out of touch, most find it creepy and random. If you are in this camp, there is an easy way to make it stop. Just go to Settings > Siri & Search and toggle off Siri Suggestions.

Why Does My iPhone Keep Asking Me to Check In With My Ex?

An iPhone feature has some users baffled as they are asked to share their location with work acquaintances, dead relatives and people on other continents. Simon was waiting for a ride home one evening when he received a strange notification on his iPhone. It appeared with the iMessage logo, almost like a text message, but it was a suggestion from Siri, Apple's virtual assistant. "Start a Check In with Daniel," the phone prompted him. "Let them know when you arrive at your destination." Simon, who works in artificial intelligence at a company in British Columbia and asked to be identified only by his first name because he was commenting on the work of another tech company, was amused by the notification and took a screenshot. Daniel was his old roommate who lived nearly 5,000 miles away, on a completely different continent: Why on earth would his phone think he'd want to check in with him? "I found it funny," Simon said in a phone interview. "He is in my Favorites on my phone, so I'm guessing that's how Apple does these recommendations. But it still just doesn't make any sense, because I also have his address saved in my contacts, so my phone should know that we live on different continents." Other iPhone users have not been so amused by the Siri feature, which was released with iOS 17 last year. Since then, the internet has been inundated with posts from users wondering why their phones want them to check in with seemingly random contacts. Many have taken to Reddit, describing the prompts as distressing or surprising, with some saying the messages had caused tension in their relationships over what felt like an attempt to control their movements. One user was asked to Check In with an ex they were no longer in touch with and others were asked to send them to managers, casual acquaintances, old enemies and, on at least one occasion, a deceased mother. Leo Margul, a 37-year-old writer living in Los Angeles, said that on two occasions he was leaving concerts when Siri prompted him to start a Check In with his mother, who lives across the country in Boston. When he posted the screenshot to Reddit, other users chimed in to say that they had received similar notifications, but that their parents had passed away.