Apple Intelligence offers breakup text summaries

Breakup messages are always painful to receive. Even when the sender is trying their best to be gentle and mindful of your feelings.

Of course, not everyone is quite so adept at conveying difficult news in a damage-limitation parcel. Breakups can be messy, hurtful, and honest. Then there’s the small matter of practicalities: of dividing up one’s lives, our homes, possessions, keepsakes. That’s not even considering when children, pets, and shared friendship groups are involved.

A new AI tool is coming, which neatly summarises breakup texts, providing you with the key points without needing to pore over every word that your heartbreaker has sent you.

One user of the beta version of iOS 18.1 experienced first-hand the impact of Apple Intelligence’s new features. They posted a screenshot of a breakup text summary (which Mashable viewed), but has since deleted their posts and asked names to be censored so both parties can process the breakup in privacy.

When the user received a breakup text, Apple Intelligence went ahead and provided them with an AI-generated abridged version of the message. It read: “No longer in a relationship; wants belongings from the apartment.” Straight to the point.

The user then posted a screenshot of the breakup text summary on X (formerly Twitter), followed by a tweet confirming that it is real. Following the publication of this article, which previously contained the original posts, the user decided to remove all the posts and stated, “I’ve decided to value privacy over publicity and have deleted the original tweet.”

As Mashable senior editor Stan Schroeder points out, Apple Intelligence still isn’t available to all users, only in public iOS beta. And Apple’s iPhone 16 — which Apple says is “the first iPhone designed for Apple Intelligence” — is launching without Apple Intelligence. To get Apple Intelligence, you have to sign up for beta.apple.com — more info on how to sign up in this guide.

Is this the future of breakups? Or, is this just another attempt to “optimise” our emotions and our love lives — something which doesn’t entirely feel sustainable or realistic. According to evolutionary psychology, human beings are wired to process rejection as a threat to survival. An AI summary might soften the blow in the short-term, but ultimately, you’ll probably still feel really upset about being dumped. You can’t AI your way out of emotional processing! You’ve got to feel the feelings and move on. Look after yourselves!

And remember: you’re not being rejected, the relationship is.

UPDATE: Oct. 11, 2024, 5:00 p.m. CEST This article has been updated to remove identifying details after the original poster removed their X posts and asked for privacy to mourn their breakup.