Ternus tells Apple staff at town hall: "we won't ship technology for technology's sake"
- Apple CEO-designate John Ternus told employees at a town hall that Apple will not ship artificial intelligence features unless they improve products. - Ternus said Apple is using AI internally to query decades of engineering data, while Tim Cook said a revamped Siri is due at WWDC 2026. - The remarks land after Apple delayed Siri features announced in 2024 and leaned on outside models to fill gaps. (cnbc.com)
John Ternus told Apple employees at a recent town hall that the company “won’t ship technology for technology’s sake” as it works to reset its artificial intelligence strategy. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) The meeting came days after Apple named Ternus, its longtime hardware chief, as Tim Cook’s successor, with Ternus set to become chief executive on September 1, 2026. (cnbc.com) (usnews.com) At that all-hands meeting, Ternus also told staff Apple was “about to change the world once again” and called this “the most exciting time” to be building products and services at Apple in his career. (9to5mac.com) His more concrete point was internal: Ternus said AI can help Apple query decades of engineering data and use it to figure out how to make products better. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) That stance arrives with Apple under pressure on generative AI. CNBC reported that investors want a clearer plan after Apple launched Apple Intelligence in 2024 but still trails Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta in the current AI race. (cnbc.com) Apple’s biggest public miss has been Siri. Features tied to a more personalized Siri were announced at Worldwide Developers Conference 2024, but had still not shipped as of late April 2026. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) (cnbc.com) Cook told employees at the same town hall that a revamped Siri is coming at WWDC 2026 in June as part of iOS 27, according to the Times of India account citing Bloomberg. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) In the meantime, Apple has relied on partners for some AI capabilities. CNBC reported that Apple’s current approach includes ChatGPT integration, and that Google’s Gemini is expected to power key Apple features, including a major Siri upgrade later this year. (cnbc.com) Reuters reported that analysts see Ternus’s appointment as a sign Apple will keep centering its hardware business and fold AI into existing devices, not pivot to an entirely new AI-first category. (usnews.com) That makes Ternus’s line less a slogan than a constraint: Apple is telling employees that its next AI push has to ship as a finished product, not just a demo. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) (usnews.com)
