Apple sued again over broken AI promises, and this time by its own shareholders
Investors say Apple misled them on Siri upgrades and overhyped iPhone 16’s AI potential
Apple is now facing a new legal challenge, this time from its own shareholders. A proposed securities fraud class action was filed in federal court on June 20, accusing the company of misleading investors about the timeline and capabilities of its artificial intelligence features, particularly those tied to Siri and the iPhone 16.
The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco’s Northern District of California, claims Apple downplayed how long it would take to deliver the AI upgrades it introduced as part of Apple Intelligence. The plaintiffs argue that these delays contributed to a decline in iPhone sales and a significant drop in the company’s stock value. The case, Tucker v. Apple Inc, names CEO Tim Cook, CFO Kevan Parekh, and former CFO Luca Maestri as defendants.
According to the complaint, investors were led to believe that Apple Intelligence would be a key selling point for the iPhone 16 lineup, offering smarter and more capable Siri experiences. But shareholders claim Apple did not actually have a working version of those features when it made those announcements during the June 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference.
The situation became more complicated earlier this year when Apple reportedly postponed some of the new Siri capabilities to 2026. That initial delay came in March, and was followed by a WWDC 2025 presentation that left many analysts underwhelmed with the company’s AI progress. In the months since, Apple shares have fallen nearly 25 percent from their all-time high in late December 2024, wiping out about $900 billion in market value.
Apple's broken AI promise prompted this new round of litigation. | Image credit — Apple via Wayback Machine
This lawsuit comes as Apple continues to face scrutiny over several other legal issues, including its long-running battle with Epic Games over App Store payment policies, and a more recent case involving disappointed iPhone 16 buyers who claimed they were misled about device features.
Earlier this month, the National Advertising Division also recommended that Apple stop advertising Apple Intelligence features as available on the iPhone 16, given the delays. That ruling may have paved the way for this latest round of litigation.
From a consumer standpoint, I think it was only a matter of time before legal action followed. Many users were expecting next-gen Siri features out of the box. Now that the lawsuit is official, Apple may need to move quickly to restore trust. Ideally, that means delivering more AI upgrades sooner, though it’s likely the company will now be more cautious about overpromising in the future.
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