Apple CEO says the company won’t ship AI for AI’s sake

Apple CEO John Ternus says the company plans to use AI in new products, but does not want to add it without a clear purpose. “We don’t want to ship AI for AI’s sake,” he told Wired’s Steven Levy in a recent interview.

Apple has often been described as behind in AI over the past couple of years, particularly after delaying a more powerful version of Siri, which launched this summer. Ternus, a longtime Apple executive who officially became CEO at the beginning of September, acknowledged that “everyone has an opinion” about the company’s position. He said, “I really like where we’re at.”

Ternus said Apple is “absolutely going to leverage AI” in new products. He argued that when the company gets it right, people should not need to distinguish whether a result came from AI or traditional software. What matters, he said, is whether Apple builds something people love.

Asked whether AI agents could make apps unnecessary and reshape Apple’s ecosystem, Ternus said that might make life easier, but described product creation as “a deeply human and personal thing” that Apple loves to do.