John Ternus’ first big problem is AI

Apple has named hardware engineering veteran John Ternus as its next CEO, succeeding Tim Cook effective September 1st. The announcement notably omitted any mention of AI strategy, despite Apple's well-documented struggles in the artificial intelligence race. Ternus, a 25-year Apple veteran who led development for every iPad model and recent iPhones, represents the first CEO in three decades to come from the hardware side. This comes as Apple faces mounting pressure over its AI offerings, with Siri significantly lagging behind assistants from OpenAI (GPT-4o), Google (Gemini), and Anthropic (Claude 3.5).

Apple's AI promises have repeatedly failed to materialize. Features like the personalized Siri capabilities announced at WWDC 2024 remain delayed, with executives stating they "needed more time to reach our high quality bar." Advertisement campaigns from 2024 showcased Siri functions that still haven't shipped nearly two years later. Meanwhile, competitors have aggressively integrated agentic AI (AI that can perform multi-step tasks) into their ecosystems, with Microsoft embedding Copilot throughout Windows 11—though facing user backlash dubbed "Microslop." Some of those users reportedly switched to Apple's MacBook Neo for its cleaner interface.

Ternus now faces the dual challenge of accelerating Apple's core AI capabilities while avoiding the over-integration missteps of competitors. His background working under Steve Jobs and deep hardware expertise could position him to develop AI that aligns with Apple's philosophy of thoughtful, simplified design. However, the fundamental issue remains: Apple must deliver competitive AI assistant technology after years of promises and delays, in a market where rivals have established significant leads in model development and ecosystem integration.