Apple released the iOS 18.1 developer beta last month, giving users their first hands-on experience with Apple Intelligence features. Writing Tools, which lets you reformat or rewrite text using Apple's AI models, is one of the new services consistently available in the update. However, the tool displays a message informing you that the quality of the AI-generated suggestions may not be the best when dealing with certain topics.
If you need to correct some text, you can summon Apple Intelligence from almost anywhere on your system, but if you try to rewrite a paragraph or sentence that contains an expletive like “sh**” or “bastard,” you'll see a warning that “Writing Tools is not designed to handle this type of content,” and the header text will warn you that the quality of the rewrite may vary.
Other users have noticed this too, and sometimes they don't respond with a rewritten version of the sentence that maintains the tone of the sentence.
This warning doesn't just come up for foul language – it also comes up for mentions of drugs, murder, and murder.
Image credit: Screenshot from TechCrunch
Even if Apple Intelligence warns you, it will still suggest sentences if you use a word or phrase it wasn't trained on. During testing, I replaced “sh***y” with “crappy” to get rid of the warning, and the AI tool returned the exact same suggestions as before.
We've asked Apple for more information about the topics that its writing tools aren't trained to offer suggestions on, and will update this article if the company responds.
Apple appears to be trying to avoid controversy by prohibiting its AI from targeting certain words, topics, or tones when rewriting text. After all, Apple Intelligence's writing tools aren't designed to generate new content from scratch. But Apple wants to warn users when its AI looks for these terms.
It took Apple years to remove swear word blocking from its keyboard auto-correct suggestions. Last year, in iOS 17, Apple finally introduced an auto-correct feature that learns from users' swear words. Perhaps Apple Intelligence is just being cautious, lest it get called out by regulators for generating problematic content.