Apple Agrees To Pay iPhone Owners $250 Million For Not Delivering AI Siri 37
Apple has agreed to a proposed $250 million settlement over claims that it misled iPhone buyers about the availability of Apple Intelligence and its upgraded Siri features. The settlement would cover U.S. buyers of the iPhone 16 lineup and iPhone 15 Pro models between June 10, 2024, and March 29, 2025. The Verge reports: The settlement will resolve a 2025 lawsuit, alleging Apple's advertisements created a "clear and reasonable consumer expectation" that Apple Intelligence features would be available with the launch of the iPhone 16. The lawsuit claimed Apple's products "offered a significantly limited or entirely absent version of Apple Intelligence, misleading consumers about its actual utility and performance."
Apple brought certain AI-powered features to the iPhone 16 weeks after its release, and delayed the launch of its more personalized Siri, which is now expected to arrive later this year. Last April, the National Advertising Division recommended that Apple "discontinue or modify" its "available now" claim for Apple Intelligence. Apple also pulled an iPhone 16 ad showing actor Bella Ramsey using the AI-upgraded Siri.
Apple brought certain AI-powered features to the iPhone 16 weeks after its release, and delayed the launch of its more personalized Siri, which is now expected to arrive later this year. Last April, the National Advertising Division recommended that Apple "discontinue or modify" its "available now" claim for Apple Intelligence. Apple also pulled an iPhone 16 ad showing actor Bella Ramsey using the AI-upgraded Siri.
No AI? (Score:5, Funny)
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You jest, but the reason I pulled the trigger on a 15 Pro right after the 16 was announced was because I wasn't interested in my phone having a bunch of useless AI shit. That and the $100 discount that the outgoing model typically gets until stock runs out.
Turned out that Apple's AI features were mostly vaporware anyway. That being said, I'll still happily request my check for what'll probably be like tree fiddy and one of those white Apple decals that they don't give you anymore.
Still Apple though (Score:3)
...the reason I pulled the trigger on a 15...
...is that you nevertheless enjoy handing Apple control over every aspect of your life?
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...is that you nevertheless enjoy handing Apple control over every aspect of your life?
Apple or Google, pick your poison.
Yeah, I realize some people see that as a false dichotomy, but the other options are using a de-Googled Android phone (which presents both hardware selection and app compatibility limitations), or avoiding smartphones altogether (since I own an EV, that's not even a realistic option).
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How much do I need to pay Apple to not deliver regular Siri?
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Same here, I turn that damn thing off on any of my machines.
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That's a feature. These people should be paying Apple.
That's perfectly fine, but this isn't about what consumers want. It's about what Apple didn't deliver despite promising to do so.
sure I'll take the money, but (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: sure I'll take the money, but (Score:1)
I'm mostly interested in Siri getting better at understanding me with semi complex queries such as "find me a cheap burrito on the way" when I go fishing.
My first startup, back in 2001-2004 was able to get a chat bot with better prompt responses than Siri. Only plain text but it worked well.
Getting my entire life spied on so it can be later sold to the NSA is not really something t I'm looking forward to, especially now that Tim Apple is leaving... privacy might become a lesser priority than increased profi
Process locally for privacy ... (Score:1, Informative)
Getting my entire life spied on so it can be later sold to the NSA is not really something t I'm looking forward to ...
I don't think that is the case. Apple's AI push seems to include providing enough local ML processing that tasks can be performed locally rather than be server based. I think that is why an iPhone 16 was required, to have enough ML capability to process locally. Onboard processing being a big part of Apple's privacy implementation.
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The processing might be done on the phone, but I'm pretty sure metadata is still being synced to Apple servers. Right now Apple is one of the few companies that do value privacy but this is partially because Tim Cook is a very private person and he strongly values privacy compared to say Zuckerberg. This is one of many reasons I prefer Apple walled garden over Microsoft and Google alternatives. I have no idea if the next Apple CEO will value privacy just as much.
While I prefer Apple hardware, I do not buy e
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I'm mostly interested in Siri getting better at understanding me with semi complex queries...
Heck, I'd settle for Siri just being a better interface for the device itself.
"Siri, how long is this podcast episode?" [My hands were messy and busy - I didn't want to pull out my phone to look.] Wait, wait. "Here's what I found..." [Indicating that Siri had done a web search to try to answer this question that was entirely about an on-device feature.]
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That answer looks clean, too clean. Suspicious.
I treat the answer as wrong until I've clicked through to the source site, after which it's upgraded to "maybe wrong", depending on where it came from.
After all that though, the answer isn't so clean anymore. Those who search for easy answers should prepare to be disappointed.
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the only time I like AI is on a search engine in my web browser when it gives a clean & concise answer to my question.
If AI could make accurate TL;DW summaries for videos, then they'd really have something. I hate when I search for something and the only answer happens to be presented in the form of a damn YouTube video.
Kill all the lawyers (Score:5, Insightful)
What do the aggrieved parties get? A $10
coupon to the Apple Store?
And the lawyers? Millions. This one case made the careers of several of them. Never have to work again.
Crazy.
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Few of these people care if Apple lied to them. They love being whispered sweet lies, year in and year out.
They also happen to love hearing "I won $10". They can do both.
Re:Kill all the lawyers (Score:5, Insightful)
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$25 per device, up to $90 in some circumstances. Not great.
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What did you do? Fill in an online form.
What did the lawyers do? Put a team of people working on the case for a significant period of time while applying their taught expertise.
Class Actions are about punishing the company, not making the victim whole. If you wanted the latter you need to refuse to participate in the class and bring a private case at which point damages are awarded to your specific situation and not your ability to type your name into a form.
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-1, uninsightful
The actual damages *per instance* are low. There's no way that individual action could happen.
The *total* damages are large. It's a market failure to allow them to go unpunished.
This is a rational method of reconciling these two conditions.
Settlement link is a 404 (Score:2)
Do better.
"Apple Intelligence" (Score:2)
Is that the private-sector equivalent of Military Intelligence?
nice links you got there (Score:2)
Do Tesla next (Score:5, Insightful)
There are people who paid for self-driving who owned their Teslas for years and then on sold them or got rid of them all without ever actually having the promised feature. Musk has literally promised this every year now for over a decade.
What's Vaporware? (Score:1)
"Hey Siri, what's vaporware?"
"Sorry, I'm having trouble connecting to the internet. For more info, check the home app. Also, fuck you."
Cheaper? (Score:2)
Would it have cost more than $250M to get a Siri LLM working?
Maybe Tim was afraid of another Apple Maps and bailed?
To get your $5 share of the settlement... (Score:2)
You'll have to:
- Read an email you receive that looks exactly like spam, and will probably be in your spam folder.
- Click a link in that email.
- Provide your personal information and address.
- Wait just a few more dozens of months.
- Stay at the same address.
After all that, you'll get a coupon in the mail that also looks like junk mail. To use it, you'll have to buy Apple products.
Count me in!
Is 250MM punitive at all for Apple? (Score:1)
That's something like 47 minutes of profit for the company. Is it really going to dissuade bad behavior in the future? I think not.