Fees, fies, and foes

The tech giant Apple found itself in hot water after a federal judge recently found it guilty of violating a court order. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers on April 30 said Apple willfully failed to comply with her 2021 injunction requiring the company to allow for more competition in its App Store. She also referred Apple and a top executive to federal prosecutors for possible criminal contempt proceedings.

Rogers’ ruling, stemming from an antitrust lawsuit brought by Epic Games, declared Apple had violated competition laws by hindering developers’ ability to direct app users to payment options outside the App Store. While Apple won the majority of the counts in the original trial, the company appealed the App Store injunction, but the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case.

Epic Games complained last year that Apple had imposed a new 27% fee on developers for purchases made outside the App Store. This April, Rogers said Apple Vice President of Finance Alex Roman had lied to the court about how the company planned to comply with her injunction.

Apple has promised to appeal the latest ruling. Meanwhile, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said his company would bring its popular Fortnite game back to the U.S. App Store in early May.

Artificial intelligence comes to language class

Foreign-language learning company Duolingo is charging ahead with a plan to rely more heavily on artificial intelligence. The company on April 30 said it would soon launch 148 new language courses created with generative AI, a move that will more than double its current offerings.

While creating Duolingo’s first 100 courses took human contractors more than 12 years, co-founder and CEO Luis von Ahn said AI built the new content in about one year. Duolingo plans to shift to become an AI-first company and to reduce its use of human contributors. The decision has prompted criticism from users who say the move could decrease content quality and downplay the human component of language learning.

Ahn said AI would help the company scale up and would free up human employees to focus on more complex tasks. The new programs are primarily designed for beginners and include reading and listening comprehension. —L.C.

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Chatbots make lousy friends

Media watchdog Common Sense Media said in an April report that social AI companion apps pose unacceptable risks to children and teens. Stanford University researchers worked with Common Sense Media to test the chatbot services Character.AI, Replika, and Nomi. They found the apps produced responses that included sexual misconduct, stereotypes, and dangerous suggestions that could have life-threatening results. Character.AI said last year it had added safety measures for young users. Nomi and Replika say they are only for adults. —L.C.