Apple agreed to pay $250 million (about 363.9 billion won) to settle a false advertising class-action lawsuit filed after it aired ads before releasing the artificial intelligence (AI) features of the Siri voice assistant.
According to major foreign media on the 6th, Apple reached a settlement in a lawsuit alleging false advertising over iPhone's AI features, "Apple Intelligence," particularly the enhancements to the Siri voice assistant. In the settlement filed in federal court in California, Apple did not admit any wrongdoing but agreed to resolve the large class-action claims.
Apple plans to pay between $25 (about 36,000 won) and $95 (about 138,000 won) to U.S. consumers who purchased an iPhone 15 or iPhone 16 between June 2024 and March 2025.
The dispute centers on the fact that Apple prominently showcased Intelligence and advanced Siri features at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024, but those features were not available when the new products launched. Apple later pushed the timeline for key Siri features to 2026. The plaintiffs have argued that Apple marketed ahead of the actual level of implementation.
In the complaint, the legal team said, "Apple promoted AI features that did not exist at the time, do not exist now, and may not exist for more than two years—perhaps ever—as if they were groundbreaking innovations." They added that Apple's AI marketing campaign was a strategy by big tech corporations to avoid falling behind in the new technology race led by startups like OpenAI and Anthropic.
An Apple Spokesperson said, "By resolving this matter, we can focus on what we do best—delivering the most innovative products and services to users."
Because the settlement is being discussed mainly in the United States, it could raise issues of parity with overseas users, including those in Korea. In Korea, Seoul YMCA filed a complaint with the Korea Fair Trade Commission, saying Apple Intelligence ads potentially violated the Act on Fair Labeling and Advertising, and the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said it had launched an investigation.