Apple is facing a class-action lawsuit that claims the company engaged in false advertising when it advertised its voice assistant Siri. The lawsuit includes claims regarding its generative AI technology, Apple Intelligence. The tech giant revealed these new features with their announcement campaigns. They teased some pretty big improvements in store for the clients that buy the upcoming iPhone. Consumers are finally suing the pants off these companies because these innovations have not translated in real life.
Advertisements Build Customer Expectations
Apple’s ads for Siri and Apple Intelligence have been a centerpiece of this legal fight’s trademark war. These promotions went beyond the pale and established a “reasonable customer expectation” to which advanced generative AI developments are but a pale shadow. The tech giant highlighted new features, portraying them as massive experiences that would be available to users upon upgrading their devices. Despite these assertions, the actual features released have already faced backlash for underwhelming in comparison to the promised benefits.
The complaint alleges that all of these promised features are still not accessible to users. Critics have shot their arrows at Apple Intelligence and Siri. What’s more, they’re understandably exasperated by the hesitancy in rolling out the expected generative AI improvements. The lawsuit contends that despite knowing the features would not be delivered on time, Apple used them to entice customers into purchasing the latest iPhone models.
Falling Behind Competitors
Beyond the narrow focus of this lawsuit, Apple’s intense hostility to EDRs is notable outside the context of this case. The Service’s portrait of Apple Intelligence is one of it being “at least two years behind” competitors like Google and Microsoft. This delay in development has fueled doubt regarding Apple’s capacity to remain competitive with the industry’s rapid progress in AI technology.
Apple execs have publicly acknowledged the delays in the rollout of new features for Apple Intelligence and Siri. These claims lend credence to the lawsuit’s allegations that the company intentionally marketed features it had no ability to provide. As a result, Apple is not only the subject of at least four misleading advertising practice class action lawsuits to increase sales of its new generation smartphones.
Seeking Damages for Consumers
The lawsuit seeks damages for retail customers who purchased new Apple products. With their purchases, they hoped to gain the most recent upgrades. The plaintiffs contend, based on the robust public-facing features advertised and promoted, that these core features were missing in the latest iOS 18.4 release. This has resulted in considerable disappointment from consumers who were sold the bill of goods by the marketing that Apple has put forth.
