Technologies

Some Apple shareholders want a civil rights audit

The tech giant has faced accusations of allowing a hostile work environment to grow under its majority white and male leadership.

Apple shareholders will likely vote next year year on a proposal tied to online criticism the company has faced from some of its employees, calling for a civil rights audit after victims detailed stories of harassment and abuse at the company. It also comes after the US National Labor Relations Board began investigations into complaints filed by two former employees.

The proposal, earlier reported by MarketWatch, seeks to draw attention to Apple’s employee base, which is 47% white and 66% male, according to the company’s public data. The shareholders told MarketWatch that despite Apple’s public commitments to support racial justice, its progress diversifying its own ranks has been slow.

«It is unclear how Apple plans to address racial inequality in its workforce,» the proposal, shared with MarketWatch, says. «Apple currently has no Hispanics and only one Black member on its executive team.»

SOC Investment Group, which reported owning 22 million shares of Apple stock earlier this year, worked on the proposal with Trillium Asset Management, which earlier reported owning more than 1 million shares of Apple. The Service Employees International Union was also reportedly involved. The proposal is expected to be voted on during Apple’s 2022 shareholder meeting; last year’s meeting occurred in February.

Apple declined to comment. Representatives from SOC, Trillium and the SEIU didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The move is the latest in a series of public efforts to draw attention to Apple’s corporate culture at a time of intense scrutiny. Employees have publicly accused the tech giant of allowing a hostile work environment to develop in parts of the company. Apple’s ultra-secretive work culture, they say, is unintentionally adding to this problem by discouraging people from speaking up about these issues.

Apple isn’t the only company facing these types of questions. Current and former employees at Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Pinterest have also raised concerns, speaking out on a range of issues, including workplace harassment.

What’s notable about Apple is how unusual it is for its workers to publicly criticize the company. Earlier this year, a group of employees published an open letter to CEO Tim Cook and the company’s senior leadership, asking the tech giant to improve how it treats its 160,000 employees and «fulfill its promise of inclusion, diversity and equity.»

In the letter, the group asked for increased privacy over personal information; transparent and fair compensation; an audit of all relationships with other companies; increased accountability across leadership and human resource teams; and a process for sharing group concerns. The letter also asks for a reinvestigation of all reports of «racism, discrimination, abuse, harassment, concerted activity suppression and retaliation» at Apple.

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Technologies

Apple’s New Smart Home Display Delayed Until Fall Over Siri Issues

It has been nearly a year and a half since the company announced the AI-powered product.

Your home could get smarter with Apple’s Siri, but it will have to wait a few more months. Bloomberg reported the iPad-shaped AI home hub won’t be ready until September, several months after the company was hoping to launch it this spring. Apple engineers first need to complete work on a new and improved Siri assistant for the home device, code-named J490, according to Bloomberg.

Apple was hoping to release J490 this month, along with a slew of other new devices, including the iPhone 17e, MacBook Neo, MacBook Air M5, new Pro models, and iPad Air M4. Apple first teased the smart home display in November 2024.

A representative for Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Siri is Apple’s virtual assistant that uses voice recognition and AI to fulfill a variety of tasks and commands, along with intriguing uses. You might use Siri to find your iPhone — «Hey Siri, where are you?» — or to hear the weather forecast — «Siri, what will the weather be today?» Siri is available on iPhones, MacBooks and iPads. It was launched in 2011 as a feature of the iPhone 4S.

As CNET reported last month, Apple engineers have struggled to push the upgraded Siri assistant out the door. It isn’t fast enough, gets confused by complex commands and doesn’t interact well with other Apple AI models. The company is also wrestling with how much personal data to access to inform the AI, and the new Siri is not yet able to complete in-app tasks, such as finding a photo and posting it to socials, all with one command.

It has been nearly two years since Apple announced that it would give Siri a major upgrade. In the meantime, competitors like Alexa Plus and Gemini for Home have entered the marketplace.

Tech tester Jon Rettinger, whose YouTube channel has 1.66 million subscribers, says the repeated delays in upgrading Siri can «erode» confidence in Apple’s ability to keep up in the AI race.

«Apple as a whole is still one of the strongest companies on the planet. But their AI play is clearly the weakest link in an otherwise very strong chain,» Rettinger told CNET.

Rettinger said he has had issues getting Siri to complete basic commands, such as setting two alarms at the same time, and that it’s a bit of «a mess» right now.

«Having said that, the iPhone has such massive market penetration that I’m not sure it will actually matter in the end. Which is kind of wild when you think about it,» Rettinger said.

Facial recognition for residents

The hardware for the forthcoming smart home display has already been finished. It resembles an iPad and can be either attached to a wall or rest on a half-domed-shaped base, the Bloomberg report said.

The device will be equipped with facial recognition, so when residents walk up to it, they will be shown personalized data such as music preferences, news headlines, appointments, reminders, tasks and so on.

The screen interface will include a bunch of circular app icons, similar to the display on an Apple Watch. The Bloomberg report said the smart home display will be the first of several home devices by Apple. Future products include a tabletop robotic limb with a 9-inch screen, a smart security camera and a Face ID-enabled smart doorbell.