Apple faces lawsuit over delayed AI features

Delays in rolling out AI features promised with Apple Intelligence have landed Apple in fresh legal trouble. Apple was slapped with a class action suit in a US District Court on Wednesday, seeking unspecified damages for allegedly misleading buyers into purchasing iPhones and other devices with the promise of new AI features, many of which are now expected next year. 

The lawsuit accuses Apple of flooding the Internet with advertisements that suggested that the new AI features will be available with the new iPhone 16 series at the time of their release. It specifically mentions an Apple ad featuring actor Bella Ramsey promoting the new AI capabilities of Siri. 

The plaintiffs claim that this created a lot of excitement for the new Apple products, which offered a “significantly limited” or “entirely absent” version of Apple Intelligence, thereby misleading the buyers. 

Apple made a lot of splash last year about the new generative AI capabilities it has developed and plans to offer under the Apple Intelligence umbrella on new iPhones, iPads and Mac devices. 

It promises new AI functionalities such as writing assistance in email, notes, and messages; summarizing long emails and audio transcripts; generating images and emojis from drawing and text prompts; and instantly creating movies from photos and video captures. 

The most anticipated AI upgrade was expected in Apple’s voice assistant Siri. Apple has used gen AI to enhance Siri’s intelligence to enable more natural and seamless back-and-forth conversations. 

Many of these AI features were expected to roll out with the iOS 18.1 software update last October, while the revamped Siri was planned for release this April with iOS 18.4 update. However, early this month, Apple announced that the new Siri won’t arrive until next year. So far, Siri on Apple Intelligence devices has seen ChatGPT integration and a new user interface. 

Though Apple didn’t reveal the cause of the delay, a Bloomberg report, published this week, states that there are still several bugs in the new Siri and Apple executives who have tested it are disappointed.

The report also claims that Apple CEO Tim Cook has lost confidence in current AI head John Giannandrea, and wants to rebuild the new Siri from scratch under the supervision of Mike Rockwell, the current VP of the Vision Products Group that built the Vision Pro headsets. 

Apple was one of the first brands to offer an AI assistant, when it released Siri in 2011. However, over the years it has adopted a cautious approach towards AI, given the safety and ethical concerns associated with it. 

The hype around Apple Intelligence was also an attempt by the Cupertino-based company to boost iPhones sales, which has slumped in several key markets including China. 

Despite double-digit growth in emerging markets such as India and Brazil, Apple’s overall revenue dropped by 4% in the first three months of 2024.

Image credit: Apple