Apple chief executive John Ternus said the company did not want to ship AI for its own sake, less than two months after he took the job, TechCrunch reported on 31 October after his interview with Wired’s Steven Levy. Ternus said Apple would use AI in new products but wanted people to judge the resulting features, rather than the technology behind them.
Key points
- Ternus said customers should not have to distinguish between AI and conventional software when using an Apple feature.
- His comments follow Apple’s delayed release of a more powerful Siri, which arrived in summer 2026.
- Asked whether AI agents could make apps unnecessary, Ternus defended the human work of creating products.
Wired published its interview on 30 October, the week Apple launched the touchscreen MacBook Pro. Ternus had presented the laptop at an event in Los Angeles earlier that week. Wired described the 51-year-old chief executive as a 25-year Apple veteran.
Ternus sets out Apple’s AI test
Ternus told Levy that Apple was “absolutely going to leverage AI” in new products. He added: “We don’t want to ship AI for AI’s sake.” His preferred test was whether customers liked what Apple built, regardless of whether a feature relied on AI or more traditional software.
The remarks address a familiar criticism of Apple’s pace. The company has often been described as trailing in AI, particularly after it delayed a more powerful version of Siri. That version launched in summer 2026. Ternus acknowledged that “everyone has an opinion” about Apple’s position, but said: “I really like where we’re at.”
Apple has continued adding AI features to existing products. AI Affairs has reported on assistants added to Pages, Keynote and Numbers and on Siri AI expanding to five more languages through its 27.2 updates. Those additions sit alongside the more powerful Siri release that followed the earlier delay.
Ternus responds to the agent question
Levy also asked whether AI agents might change Apple’s ecosystem more substantially by making apps unnecessary. Ternus allowed that such a shift could make life easier, then turned to the people who make products: “the creation of products is a deeply human and personal thing, something that we love to do.”
That answer followed Ternus’s account of how Apple intends to use AI. In both, he described the technology in relation to products people use, rather than as a reason on its own to release a feature. He made the comments shortly after becoming chief executive at the beginning of September.
MacBook Pro launch in Los Angeles
At the Los Angeles presentation, Ternus introduced the touchscreen MacBook Pro with a video before attendees tried the laptop. The event also included demonstrations by people using it for music, film, photography and fashion work. Wired covered the laptop launch and Ternus’s comments on Apple’s direction.
Apple has set 4 November for Apple Intelligence testing in China, AI Affairs reported.
