Former Apple CEO John Sculley says OpenAI is Apple’s first real competitor in decades, here’s why

Former Apple CEO John Sculley has stated that Apple has a major competitor in the rapidly expanding AI world. During the Zeta Live conference in New York City on Thursday, Sculley, according to Business Insider, described OpenAI as “the first real competitor” Apple has faced in decades, pointing out that the business has generally trailed in artificial intelligence development.

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Sculley said, “AI has not been a particular strength for them,” in reference to Apple’s lag behind companies like OpenAI, Google, Amazon, and Meta in the AI race. AI-driven projects by Apple, such as a planned redesign of its Siri assistant early this year, have been delayed.

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Sculley, who managed Apple from 1983 to 1993 and helped popularise the Mac brand, also commented on the succession rumours surrounding current CEO Tim Cook. He argued that Apple’s next CEO must steer the company from an “apps era” to an “agentic era,” in which AI agents may conduct complex activities on behalf of consumers.

According to Sculley, agentic AI has the potential to transform knowledge work by automating repetitive processes, which will incentivise tech companies to adopt subscription-based business models. “Selling tools or products was the main goal when apps were popular. In contrast, subscriptions allow users to pay for services for as long as they require them,” he said, indicating the possibility of more stable sources of income.

Sculley also pointed out the trend of Apple alums entering the AI space, citing former design chief Jony Ive, whose startup company for devices was acquired by OpenAI earlier this year for more than $6 billion. At OpenAI’s DevDay, Ive discussed developing hardware to address limitations created by smartphones and tablets.

“Jony Ive designed and built the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad,” said Sculley. “If anyone can bring that same design dimension to OpenAI’s large language models, it’s him, working alongside Sam Altman,” he added.

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Ashish Singh

Ashish Singh is the Chief Copy Editor at Digit. He's been wrangling tech jargon since 2020 (Times Internet, Jagran English '22). When not policing commas, he's likely fueling his gadget habit with coffee, strategising his next virtual race, or plotting a road trip to test the latest in-car tech. He speaks fluent Geek. View Full Profile