Apple is facing a massive $1.4 billion lawsuit by a Chinese artificial intelligence firm for a patent related to Apple’s virtual assistant Siri. The Chinese firm claims that Apple violated a patent that they own for a virtual assistant similar to Siri, according to the Wall Street Journal report.
“Shanghai Zhizhen Network Technology Co. said in a statement on Monday it was suing Apple for an estimated 10 billion yuan ($1.43 billion) in damages in a Shanghai court, alleging the iPhone and iPad makers products violated a patent the Chinese company owns for a virtual assistant whose technical architecture is similar to Siri. Siri, a voice-activated function in Apple’s smartphones and laptops, allows users to dictate text messages or set alarms on their devices.”
Shanghai Zhizhen also called Xiao-i, started as a chatbot for MSN and other similar networks. The firm has several android and iOS platforms now. The lawsuit claims for “manufacturing, using, promising to sell, selling, and importing” of all products related to the patent. The Supreme Court of China ruled the lawsuit as valid.
The Cupertino tech giant has not made a comment to the Wall Street Journal’s request.
Apple released Siri in the year 2010. But a concept video called Knowledge Navigator which was released back in 1987 shows the vision of Apple in the stream of a digital personal assistant.
