Apple seeks dismissal of fraud lawsuit over Siri AI, Epic injunction

By Jonathan Stempel

Feb 26 (Reuters) - Apple urged a national justice to disregard a projected people enactment claiming it defrauded shareholders twice, by overstating the ‌artificial quality capabilities of its Siri dependable adjunct and falsely representing its compliance ‌with an injunction governing commissions connected app sales.

In a Wednesday filing successful the San Jose, California, national ​court, Apple said determination was nary impervious it knew erstwhile discussing AI astatine a June 2024 league that it would instrumentality longer than expected to incorporated 2 precocious AI features into Siri, perchance hurting iPhone 16 sales.

The institution delayed immoderate Siri upgrades the pursuing ‌March, and Chief Executive Tim Cook ⁠said 2 months aboriginal that processing a "more personal" Siri was "taking a spot longer than we thought."

Apple besides said it provided nary assurance that ⁠its procedures designed to comply with a 2021 injunction, successful a lawsuit brought by Epic Games, to fto app users wage developers straight alternatively than person the institution complaint the developers ​hefty commissions ​would beryllium foolproof.

"It is nary concealed that ​Apple faced challenges and weathered ups ‌and downs successful its banal terms successful 2025, similar galore large companies," Apple said. "But plaintiff takes a monolithic and unsupported leap by claiming that securities fraud caused the impermanent terms drops."

The suit covers Apple shareholders who suffered perchance hundreds of billions of dollars of losses successful the Cupertino, California-based company's banal betwixt May 3, 2024 and May ‌1, 2025, the time aft a justice said ​Apple was violating the injunction.

Lawyers for shareholders led by South ​Korea's National Pension Service, the ​world's 3rd largest pension money with adjacent to $1 trillion of assets, ‌did not instantly respond to requests for ​comment.

Apple's injunction required the ​company to supply app users with outer links for purchases, truthful developers wouldn't beryllium 30% commissions for purchases successful its App Store.

The justice overseeing that lawsuit ​rebuked Apple for creating ‌a caller strategy that charged a 27% committee connected immoderate outer sales. A ​federal appeals tribunal partially reversed her sanctions successful December.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel ​in New York; Editing by Franklin Paul)