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🧑⚖️ Apple is being sued by users who believe they have been lied to over the Apple Intelligence features advertised for iPhone and other devices
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💰 They are seeking class-action status and damages from the Cupertino-based firm
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🤔 It comes as Apple recently deleted an ad on YouTube advertising Siri features with actor Bella Ramsey
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🤝 The law firm involved in the suit has previously sued both Google and OpenAI over their own AI services
Apple is being sued in a federal court over alleged false advertising with their Apple Intelligence AI integration.
Filed on March 19 in the US District Court in San Jose, plaintiffs are seeking class-action status and damages on behalf of users who purchased iPhones and other Apple devices with Apple Intelligence functionality.
They allege that they haven’t received the Apple Intelligence features that Apple promised on purchase of the products in associated materials, arguing that “the products offered a significantly limited or entirely absent version of Apple Intelligence, misleading consumers about its actual utility and performance”. This is contrary to the ”advanced AI capabilities” that the claimants believe they were promised.
“Apple’s advertisements saturated the internet, television, and other airwaves to cultivate a clear and reasonable consumer expectation that these transformative features would be available upon the iPhone’s release,” the suit goes on to add.
The lawsuit specifically refers to an Apple ad from September 2024 featuring actor Bella Ramsay (The Last of Us, Game of Thrones) promoting capabilities with Siri, Apple’s assistant, that have since been delayed. The advert has recently been removed from YouTube, although the plaintiffs argue that Apple hasn’t fully retracted “all the similarly false representations in the market that began in the Summer of 2024”.
The law firm involved in the suit is Clarkson Law Firm, which has previously filed suits against both Google and OpenAI over their own AI practices. The difference with this Apple-focused suit is that it’s focused on AI features that haven’t shipped, rather than those that did.
Adding AI functionality to products is something that Apple has arguably been late to, and another setback is the last thing it needed. These setbacks come in contrast to Amazon’s recent unveiling of Alexa+ which promises wide-scale changes to improve the responsiveness and overall functionality of their ubiquitous AI assistant.
Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.
