Apple agrees to pay $250 million for AI Siri scandal
It's payout time.
Apple has settled and is agreeing to pay out up to $95 per device that was affected in their AI Siri marketing scandal and was purchased between June 10th, 2024, and March 29th 2025. The tech giant was accused of false advertising for their iPhone 15 and 16 models, as the AI features were integral to this marketing. It was stated during this settlement that Apple was marketing technologies that "did not exist" at the time, which is what has stirred this drama.
This is an unprecedented move, since Apple Intelligence shortcomings have not been addressed in this way yet. While some Apple executives have apologized for the delay, the agreement of a payout is far beyond what consumers have received so far.
In addition, the settlement included that Apple had "saturated the market with deceptive ads," with these ads being shown across the world. This false promise of AI features on these iPhones, often as a key selling point, violates consumer protection laws.
Marques Brownlee, also known as MKBHD, stated in his iPhone 16 review, during the period of this advertising, to "never buy a product based on the promise of future software updates. Buy it for what it is right now when you buy it." Hindsight is 20/20, it seems, and his prediction was right.
Users who have bought iPhone 16 models based on the promise of AI features have been left with ChatGPT integration, Image Playground, and some Visual Intelligence features, to name a few. Since the announcement of Apple Intelligence back at WWDC24, no new Apple Intelligence Siri has arrived, the main talking point of this marketing.
Models affected by this include iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models, and all iPhone 16 models (including iPhone 16e). The case may be that iPhone 17 models are not eligible for a payout because they did not receive the same deceptive marketing, as Apple had tamped down their AI marketing by that point.
The key takeaway from all of this is that Apple misrepresented the capabilities of their devices. AI clearly is a dangerous thing no matter what form it takes on, and can affect anyone. We will have to wait and see what Apple does soon.
