Apple faces false advertising lawsuit over AI promises

Apple faces a federal class-action lawsuit alleging false advertising of AI features that haven’t yet materialized. Filed on Wednesday in the federal district court in San Jose, California, the suit claims Apple misled consumers by heavily promoting Apple Intelligence capabilities in iPhone marketing that weren’t yet fully functional, including an AI-enhanced Siri assistant. Bloomberg reported that when Apple began promoting its Apple Intelligence suite in the fall of 2024, the technology was merely a “barely working prototype.”

The legal challenge came the day before a significant executive shakeup at Apple. On Thursday, the company removed its digital assistant Siri from AI chief John Giannandrea’s purview and reassigned it to Mike Rockwell, creator of the Vision Pro mixed-reality headset. The restructuring also follows Apple’s announcement earlier this month that planned updates to Siri are delayed until 2026 due to development difficulties.

Meanwhile, Apple continues developing new future AI features, including an ongoing project aimed at equipping Apple Watches with cameras that could provide visual intelligence features to analyze users’ surroundings. Ultimately, the company is betting on Rockwell’s technical expertise and its own hardware footprint to turn around its struggling AI efforts and catch up with competitors.