Apple Coughs Up $250 Million in Siri’s AI Features Lawsuit: Siri, transfer $250 million, please!
“Apple Will Pay $250 Million to Settle Lawsuit Over Siri’s AI Features”
“Apple found itself in hot water over its voice-activated assistant, Siri. Dynamic Advances claimed that Siri’s voice recognition and natural language capabilities infringed on Rensselaer’s patent, and Obama’s alma mater agrees to the tune of $24.9 million.”
Nice, Apple. Very smooth indeed. It seems our favorite trillion-dollar company has been caught with its hand in the proverbial cookie jar. Reports have surfaced that Apple is willing to offer up a hefty $250 million to settle a lawsuit over supposedly using certain artificial intelligence features, for Siri. You know, the same Siri, that one-on-one digital assistant that promises to make users’ lives simpler, more organized, and embarrassingly hilarious when she mishears commands.
Patent litigation firm, Dynamic Advances, along with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, flagged Apple, claiming Siri’s voice recognition and natural language processing infringed on a patent. Siri, that digital little goodie two shoes, caught not-so-innocently copying homework.
Now, just to clear the air and prevent those brows from knitting any further, this isn’t the first time Apple has generously decided to make a considerable monetary handshake to avoid prolonged disputes. Back in 2016, the company forked over $24.9 million to Dynamic Advances, satisfying a claim that Siri appeared to be influenced by the firm’s technology patented by the Rensselaer Institute.
What’s fascinating, though, is seeing big, smart tech companies play this high stakes game of ‘I spy something innovative,’ and then cry foul when another player uses similar ideas. It’s somewhat reminiscent of school kids arguing over who thought of the idea first of putting chocolate chips into cookies.
Hey, it’s just another day in the tech world, where companies like Apple spend millions to clean up after their digital assistants. It does make one wonder, though; who’s truly at the helm of innovation? Is it those coming up with the ideas, or those who have mastered the fine art of “borrowing” them?