Apple CEO John Ternus: AI should not be a goal in itself, it should be invisible
Apple CEO John Ternus, in an interview for Wired, defended the company's approach to AI – according to him, Apple does not want to "release AI for AI's own sake," but rather integrate it so that it is invisible to the user. Asked about agents, he emphasized that creating products remains a human matter.
In an interview for Wired (Steven Levy), Apple CEO John Ternus, who took on the role at the beginning of September 2026, defended the company's approach to artificial intelligence so far. In recent years, Apple has often been described as a company lagging behind in AI, especially after it delayed the release of a more capable version of Siri, which ultimately came out in the summer of 2026. Ternus responded to this by saying that he "likes where we are now," even though "everyone has their own opinion."
According to Ternus, Apple "will definitely use AI" in new products, but it does not want to "release AI for AI's own sake." The goal, according to him, is integration in which the user doesn't even need to think about whether a given feature was enabled by AI or by traditional software — what matters is whether the result is a product that people really like.
When Levy raised the question of whether AI agents could fundamentally transform the Apple ecosystem and make things like apps unnecessary, Ternus replied that this could "make life easier," but that creating products is, in his view, a "deeply human and personal matter" that they enjoy doing at Apple. This suggested that the company does not expect agents to replace the human element in product design and development.
Why it matters
The statement shows how Apple frames its defense of a slower pace of AI deployment compared to competitors — it is not a denial of AI, but a stated emphasis on invisible integration and keeping the human element in product development, instead of replacement by agents.
Two audiences, two different impacts
What this means
For individuals
For users of Apple products, this means that the company is not planning to replace apps or controls en masse with agentic interfaces — new AI features should instead appear unobtrusively within existing apps.
More practical updates →For a business
Companies developing products or integrations for the Apple ecosystem can expect that AI agents will not replace the traditional app model for now — Apple's strategy is betting on gradual, hidden integration of AI into existing products instead of a shift to an agentic interface.
Strategy More business impacts →Check the original
Event sources
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