Apple sued for false advertising

One of the features of the new version of Siri that got Apple sued. Photo: Apple .

Apple is facing a lawsuit alleging false advertising related to features in its Apple Intelligence artificial intelligence toolkit, according to Axios .

The lawsuit was filed on March 19 in San Jose, USA, and was represented by Clarkson Law Firm, which has also sued Google and OpenAI over their AI practices.

While not specifying damages or an amount of compensation, the plaintiff alleges that “promotion of Apple Intelligence features (now suspended) constitutes false advertising and unfair competition.”

The lawsuit centers on a now-removed ad featuring actress Bella Ramsey asking Siri to provide information about a man she met using a personalization feature.

According to 9to5Mac , Apple Intelligence plays an important role in the iPhone 16 promotion campaign. Apple regularly introduces features such as AI photo creation (Image Playground), emoji creation (Genmoji), and personalized Siri.

While Image Playground and Genmoji are in beta, Apple has delayed the rollout of a new version of Siri until 2026 due to technical issues.

After delaying the new Siri version, Apple removed videos promoting the feature from YouTube. The company also added a disclaimer on its website.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs note that Apple’s advertising “saturates the Internet, television, and other forms of broadcasting to create a clear, reasonable expectation from users that revolutionary features will be available as soon as the iPhone hits the shelves.”

“This has created unprecedented excitement in the market, even for Apple, because the company knew it was coming. This is part of Apple’s ongoing effort to convince users to upgrade to high-priced devices, to differentiate itself from competitors who are winning the AI ​​race...

“However, contrary to Defendants’ claims of advanced AI capabilities, the product only offers a version of Apple Intelligence that is significantly limited in functionality (or absent altogether), misleading users about its actual utility and performance,” the Plaintiff added.

Apple Intelligence advertisement at an Apple store. Photo: Bloomberg .

More importantly, the plaintiffs claim that Apple’s “over-promotion” of AI features leaves users feeling like they are purchasing a device with “non-existent or significantly misrepresented features.”

Although Apple has removed Siri ads from YouTube, the lawsuit notes that the company “has failed to retract all similar misleading claims in the marketplace since the summer of 2024, let alone take any remedial action that is satisfactory to users harmed by the deception.”

This isn’t the first time Apple has faced litigation. According to AppleInsider , the company’s ads for 2024 all stated that “some features and languages ​​will be coming next year,” meaning 2025.

Apple may still release some “personalization” features in the next six months. The only one that hasn’t been rolled out yet is a new version of Siri. So it’s not easy to get a court to accept the lawsuit or convert it into a class action, especially since the process of measuring damages is difficult.