A new legal case has been initiated that could result in millions of iPhone users potentially receiving compensation due to claims about the advertising of artificial intelligence features in Apple’s products.
The Vancouver Sun reports that Apple allegedly made ‘misrepresentations’ when promoting the AI capabilities of the iPhone 16.
The lawsuit in Canada suggests that many of the promised AI features were not available when the iPhone 16 was released in September 2024, with some being introduced through iOS updates over the following months.
It is noted that an advanced version of the Siri voice assistant remains unavailable even months after the phone’s debut.
On TikTok, @thelawyerangela shared insights into the situation.
She informed her audience: “There are multiple class action lawsuits being filed right now, alleging that Apple wildly hyped up this model by saying that it would offer revolutionary AI features that you likely upgraded your phone because of these promises, only to realise later these features do not exist and likely don’t for a really long time.”
Angela added: “So this is what Apple was advertising in conjunction with its iPhone 16 rollout… that Siri would be able to integrate across apps… the lawsuit alleges that Apple executives knew that these features weren’t ready but that the company still pushed forth with these massive campaigns only to admit after millions of iPhone 16s had been sold, ‘it’s going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features’.”
An additional lawsuit has been filed in California, echoing the claims that the features remain absent.
The New York Times states that some of the features are expected to be available later this year, although specifics are yet to be confirmed.
In light of the delays, it has been reported that software chief Craig Federighi announced a shift in responsibility for Siri development from the head of AI, John Giannandrew, to Mike Rockwell, who leads the Vision Pro.
However, technology analyst Michael Gartenberg remains skeptical about the impact of these changes.
“Apple needs to understand what happened because this is bigger than just rearranging the deck chairs,” he told the Times.
“If ever there’s been an example of over-promising and under-delivering, it’s Apple Intelligence.”
On TikTok, the lawsuits sparked significant interest, with one user asking: “Where do we file for the settlement?”
Another user commented: “I upgraded from iPhone 11 to 16, and really disappointed. Glitches all the time, AI is a joke. My 11 works better.”