# Apple CEO John Ternus: “We don’t want to ship AI for AI’s sake”

> In an interview with WIRED’s Steven Levy, Ternus responded to a scenario in which AI agents replace apps by calling the creation of products a deeply human thing.

- Publisher: JARRUS (@jarrus.tech), thejarrus.com
- Story date: Oct. 30, 2026 (2026-10-30)
- Published: 2026-11-01
- Tags: Apple, Companies and people
- URL: https://thejarrus.com/en/news/ternus-ai-stance/

### The setting

Apple CEO John Ternus laid out the company's stance on AI in an interview with WIRED's Steven Levy, published in Levy's Backchannel newsletter on Oct. 30. According to Levy, the 30-minute conversation took place minutes after Apple's Los Angeles launch of the new MacBook Pro and was his second conversation with Ternus in two days. According to Apple's Oct. 28 press release, the new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display brings touch to the Mac for the first time, comes with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips and goes on sale Nov. 6.

Ternus became CEO on Sept. 1, 2026, following Apple's April 20 announcement; Tim Cook became executive chairman on the same date. TechCrunch notes that Apple has often been portrayed as trailing in AI, especially after it postponed a more capable version of Siri.

### No "AI for AI's sake"

Asked by Levy about criticism of Apple's position in AI, Ternus said everyone has an opinion, adding, "I really like where we're at." He said Apple's work is building products that make people's lives better and that the company is "absolutely going to leverage AI" to do that: "We don't want to ship AI for AI's sake. When we're doing it right, people won't have to think about whether it was AI that made this happen or more traditional software. What matters is, did we build something that they really love?"

When Levy raised a scenario in which apps give way to AI agents generated from prompts or on their own, Ternus said, "That could make life really easy, I suppose, but the creation of products is a deeply human and personal thing, something that we love to do." Levy writes that Ternus does not buy that scenario.

Asked about AI regulation, Ternus said people read the stories and think about it from a cybersecurity standpoint, and that these models are clearly "very capable of doing things." He added: "Our focus is on making sure that our products are secure and safe, and protecting the users' information."

### Other details from the interview

According to WIRED, Johny Srouji leads a unified hardware engineering and technologies organization and reports to Ternus; Apple's MacBook Pro press release gives Srouji's title as chief hardware officer. Ternus told Levy he has not yet met Donald Trump. At the end of the conversation, the only question Ternus asked Levy was what he thought of the illuminated Apple logo on the new MacBook Pro.

## Sources

1. [WIRED: I Spent 30 Minutes With Apple’s CEO. Now I Know Why John Ternus Got the Job, Oct. 30, 2026](https://www.wired.com/story/i-spent-30-minutes-with-apples-ceo-now-i-know-why-john-ternus-got-the-job/)
2. [TechCrunch: Apple CEO says the company doesn’t ‘want to ship AI for AI’s sake’, Oct. 31, 2026](https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/31/apple-ceo-says-the-company-doesnt-want-to-ship-ai-for-ais-sake/)
3. [Apple Newsroom: Tim Cook to become Apple Executive Chairman John Ternus to become Apple CEO, April 20, 2026](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/04/tim-cook-to-become-apple-executive-chairman-john-ternus-to-become-apple-ceo/)
4. [Apple Newsroom: Apple unveils groundbreaking MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display, Oct. 28, 2026](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/10/apple-unveils-groundbreaking-macbook-pro-with-proled-xdr-display/)

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