Apple’s new CEO John Tarnas used the opening of the company’s Surprise and Shine event on Wednesday to clarify the company’s AI strategy. The iPhone is already the best AI device, and Apple takes data privacy more seriously than its rivals.
The comments, which come as Ternas takes over the reins of Apple from current executive chairman Tim Cook, provide a clear indication of how the company plans to compete in the age of AI. Rather than building new hardware for AI, Apple wants to make the iPhone the central way consumers interact with new technology.
In his introduction at the Cupertino event, Ternas described the ideal AI device as an “intelligent personal hub.” He said such a hub would have a broad understanding of the user’s personal context, be always with the user, and have both a powerful processor that can run AI models on the device and an internet connection to access the models in the cloud.
The device also has a large display, high-quality camera and microphone, allowing you to see and hear the world around you, as well as long battery life, Ternas continued.
Additionally, “we want it to be very easy to use without a big learning curve. And finally, we want it to work seamlessly with other devices, apps, and services so that it feels like one unified experience,” he said.
“In other words, you’re going to end up with something very familiar, because there is no product in the world that is better designed to be an intelligent personal hub than the iPhone,” Ternus says.
Ternus also emphasized how important Apple is to data privacy, adding that “other companies view (your personal) data as something that should be collected and stored.” This was one of the more pointed statements Apple has made about how it intends to differentiate its AI platform from its competitors.
“Honestly, trust only exists when the data is no longer yours, which is why we run Apple Intelligence on your devices whenever possible,” Ternus concluded.
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