NAD told Apple to modify or discontinue certain Apple Intelligence feature claims

AppleInsider

Apple's artificial intelligence rollout has been anything but smooth, so much so that the BBB National Programs' National Advertising Division spurred the company to rethink its claims to customers.

Apple's promoting of Apple Intelligence features branded as problematic by BBB's NAD

Apple's had a rough time trying to get its artificial intelligence, which it calls Apple Intelligence, into the hands of its customers. Between backlash over incorrect notification summaries and multiple delays, it seems like Apple can't catch a break.

On Tuesday, the National Advertising Division (NAD) released a statement chiding Apple for dishonest advertising. The division had launched an inquiry into the matter after receiving claims that the company had been promoting features that did not yet exist.

In the statement, NAD called Apple's former "Available Now" claim at the top of the Apple Intelligence page "unqualified."

NAD notes that while Apple rolled out many of the features between October 2024 and March 2025, it had misled the public into thinking these features had been available since launch. It found that "Apple's disclosures-- such as footnotes and small-print disclosures-- were neither sufficiently clear and conspicuous nor close to the triggering claims."

Apple has added footnotes pointing out which features are not yet available

Additionally, it mentions the Siri debacle, pointing out that Apple had previously included the new, improved Siri under the "Available Now" header. Apple has since added footnotes saying the feature will be added at a later date and discontinued the "More Personal Siri" video demonstration.

In its advertiser statement, Apple stated, "While we disagree with the NAD's findings related to features that are available to users now, we appreciate the opportunity to work with them and will follow their recommendations."

NAD has recommended that Apple avoid conveying the message that features are available when they are not, though Apple has already made the necessary changes to comply.



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danox

Didn’t Apple quite clearly say the features will be rolled out over a period of time it hasn’t even been a year yet (WWDC 2025 around the corner) with Microsoft, Google, Meta, Nvidia, and Qualcomm making plenty of announcements beforehand and releasing products way down the road what’s the problem?  I thought everyone wanted Apple to be more open like the other companies talk/socialize and reveal all plans.

It seems like the hardware (in house Mac servers) and OS software integration with five ecosystems is taking longer particularly with the transition from the M2/M3 Ultra processor to the M5 Ultra processor.

https://www.iclarified.com/96865/apples-m5-ipad-pro-enters-advanced-testing-for-2025-launch-gurman

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/04/in-depth-with-windows-11-recall-and-what-microsoft-has-and-hasnt-fixed/  Microsoft basically a software only company is having trouble with getting Recall out the gate the first launch was recalled second coming up.

edited April 22

mpantone

danox said:

Didn’t Apple quite clearly say the features will be rolled out over a period of time it hasn’t even been a year yet (WWDC 2025 around the corner) with Microsoft, Google, Meta, Nvidia, and Qualcomm making plenty of announcements beforehand and releasing products way down the road what’s the problem?  I thought everyone wanted Apple to be more open like the other companies and talk/socialize.

Apple did qualify it but not everyone watches the WWDC keynote address or Apple product videos. NAD's objection was focused on Apple's written language on the website.

Apple did comply with the request and removed the text in question (which had a tiny footnote) without admitting guilt. But leaving it up would probably attract more scrutiny and subject Apple to more class-action lawsuits. 

You really don't want to ignore the Better Business Bureau. They are supposed to be protecting the consumer, something they occasionally have to remind companies about.

Most of the new features in iOS 18 have already been deployed and iOS 18.5 betas aren't showing much in the way of major new functionality. In less than two months, Apple's attention will pivot at WWDC 2025 to iOS 19 and iOS 18 will go into maintenance mode, a release that ended up being far less than what was set up in early announcements. Both Apple and NAD probably know that major new Apple Intelligence features won't be arriving until fall 2025 at the earliest.

I don't need Apple to socialize with me (even though I occasionally chat with the random Apple engineer at local watering holes). I do need Apple to deliver functional and reliable software that prioritizes my privacy and data security. Apple's software QA has declined dramatically over the past ten years (I now typically upgrade Apple operating systems in June, about nine months after launch) so I can maintain relative reliability because Apple doesn't deliver that anymore at launch.

Apple Marketing can talk all they want but Engineering needs to walk the walk. This didn't happen in iOS 18 or Sequoia.

edited April 22

wesley_hilliard

mpantone said:

iOS 18 will go into maintenance mode, a release that ended up being far less than what was set up in early announcements. 

Apple released every feature it announced except for one. A significant one, yes, but it was likely to have little impact on the user in the first year anyway since developers will have to build around it. Thankfully, even though there's a delay, devs can target the feature and will be more prepared when it does launch this fall.

blurpbleepbloop

I wonder how all the folks who purchased the latest iPhone with the expectation that they’d be getting to enjoy an enhanced Siri experience are feeling. It is clear the iPhone 17 will be on the market well before any semblance of “AI Siri” ships. I would be feeling pretty cheated had I purchased last fall for that explicit purpose. Ah, well, I suppose if it were really important folks would wait until they could try it out before buying.

lukei

Wes is hilarious. That is all.

Wesley_Hilliard said:

mpantone said:

iOS 18 will go into maintenance mode, a release that ended up being far less than what was set up in early announcements. 

Apple released every feature it announced except for one. A significant one, yes, but it was likely to have little impact on the user in the first year anyway since developers will have to build around it. Thankfully, even though there's a delay, devs can target the feature and will be more prepared when it does launch this fall.

elijahg

Wesley_Hilliard said:

mpantone said:

iOS 18 will go into maintenance mode, a release that ended up being far less than what was set up in early announcements. 

Apple released every feature it announced except for one. A significant one, yes, but it was likely to have little impact on the user in the first year anyway since developers will have to build around it. Thankfully, even though there's a delay, devs can target the feature and will be more prepared when it does launch this fall.

Siri was the big one. It was supposed to be ChatGPT-level but on-device and be context sensitive. For the majority of things Siri doesn't need to hook into third party apps, it would have been really useful from day one. There were a *lot* of things demoed that Siri could now do, and we now know that every single one of those was a total fabrication and pure theatre.

Priority notifications came and was partially turned off as it wasn't ready for prime time. AI summaries in Messages are just plain wrong 50% of the time. 

The genmojis don't come close to the ones Apple demoed. AI even did and article on this.

Writing tools is useful, but a fairly small fry compared to the others. 

You realise you don't *have* to defend every single move Apple makes. You're much more credible if you take them to task when they screw up.