Apple CEO John Ternus says AI must serve the product

The product matters more than the technology

Ternus, a longtime Apple executive who officially became CEO in early September, acknowledged that people disagree about the company’s standing in AI. But he said Apple will use AI only where it serves a product.

“When we get it right, users don’t have to think about whether AI did the work or more traditional software did,” was the point of his answer. What matters, he said, is that people like the product.

Levi asked whether AI could substantially change Apple and its ecosystem if agents made apps unnecessary. Ternus said that might make life simpler, but described product creation as a deeply human and personal pursuit—one Apple enjoys.

The question behind the answer

I think Ternus is drawing a boundary around how Apple wants to compete: AI can change what its products do, but it should not become the point of the product. That is a coherent position, though it does not resolve the concern that Apple’s delayed Siri has become a measure of how far behind the company is.

What I’d want to know is how Apple will decide when an AI feature is useful enough to ship—and whether users will feel the difference even when they cannot see the technology. If agents do make apps less central, Apple’s preference for human-led product design will face a harder test than whether its AI stays invisible.