Apple CEO Tim Cook openly expressed Apple’s commitment to artificial intelligence in a closed-door meeting with company employees. Speaking at the meeting held on Friday, Cook described artificial intelligence as a technological revolution in the same league as the internet, smartphones, cloud computing, and mobile apps. Cook said Apple must absolutely prevail in this race.
Tim Cook Won’t Compromise on Artificial Intelligence
Cook’s statements came immediately after a meeting with investors the day the company announced its second-quarter financial results. At that meeting, he stated that Apple would “significantly” increase its investments in artificial intelligence. At the employee meeting, Cook reiterated this message. “Apple has to do this. Apple will do this. This is an opportunity for us. We will make the necessary investment to do this,” he said.
Tim Cook also highlighted Apple’s product development philosophy during the meeting. He emphasized that the company is often not the first to market, but the one that sets the standard when it enters. He stated that personal computers existed before the Macintosh, smartphones before the iPhone, tablets before the iPad, and MP3 players before the iPod, but that Apple had raised the bar in each of these areas. He emphasized that this approach would also apply to artificial intelligence.
Apple Software Chief Craig Federighi also spoke at the meeting and provided important information, particularly regarding the delays in the new version of Siri. Federighi explained that their initial plan was to implement a hybrid architecture for Siri.
This architecture aimed to run traditional Siri tasks in a separate system, while large language model (LLM)-based tasks ran on a separate infrastructure. However, upon realizing that this approach would not achieve the desired quality, the existing architecture was completely abandoned and the system was completely redesigned.
Apple’s long-standing silence in the field of artificial intelligence, following aggressive moves by rival companies in this area, had drawn criticism. Siri’s development became a focal point of this criticism. Federighi’s statements revealed that Apple is embarking on a more radical and profound transformation of its AI strategy.
The company’s recent surge in AI-focused hiring, acquisitions, and software updates demonstrate that Apple will not simply observe the competition in this field. Tim Cook’s clear message to employees confirms that this approach is supported by internal motivation.
