Apple's new CEO: we won't ship AI for AI's sake

Apple's answer to being called late on AI is to say it doesn't want to be early on the wrong things.

Talking to Steven Levy at WIRED, John Ternus, Apple's chief executive, made the case for Apple's AI strategy, as TechCrunch's Anthony Ha reported. Ternus, a longtime Apple executive, became CEO at the start of September. Apple has been widely seen as behind, especially after delaying its more capable Siri, which finally shipped this summer.

Ternus acknowledged that everyone has an opinion, said he really likes where Apple is, and promised Apple will absolutely use AI in new products. His framing: the goal is for people not to notice whether something was powered by AI or ordinary software, only whether they love the product. Asked whether agents could make apps unnecessary, he allowed that it might make life easier, but said building products remains a very human craft at Apple.

Benchmarks vs. vibes

It's a reasonable product philosophy and a convenient one for a company that hasn't led the model race. The test is whether Apple's AI features become the kind people use without thinking about them, or the kind people turn off. Developers building on Apple platforms should watch the second question he dodged: if agents start doing tasks across apps, the App Store's role changes whether Apple likes it or not.

Scoreboard update: Draw. Apple bets on AI people won't notice.

Stay undead.