Today in a new story at TIME, the publication interviewed CEO John Ternus but also spoke to Greg “Joz” Joswiak, Apple’s SVP of Worldwide Marketing, who addressed the “lunatic fringe” of AI in Silicon Valley, hardware threats from OpenAI, and more.
Here’s what Greg Joswiak said about Apple’s AI strategy, threats from OpenAI, more
TIME picked the iPhone Duo as one of 2026’s best inventions and interviewed CEO John Ternus plus a few other Apple execs for the story.
One of those other interviewees, SVP of Worldwide Marketing Greg Joswiak, addressed Apple’s AI strategy, OpenAI hardware efforts, and more.
When asked about the ChatGPT maker’s hardware plans, Joswiak said: “We don’t feel threatened. The fact that we can do the integration that we can means we can create just a better experience than anybody else.”
Apple’s integration of hardware, software, and services has long been central to the company’s product ethos. And it clearly believes those ecosystem strengths will be a strong defense against new competitors.
Joswiak also implies that perhaps OpenAI’s products won’t have as broad appeal as Apple devices do. From the story’s very next paragraph:
Joswiak adds that Apple isn’t making products for the die-hard AI believers chasing superintelligence. “We love them, and they can use it too, but that’s not our target,” he says. “It’s how to make it better for everyday people.”
This sort of split between the average person and the AI enthusiast is also highlighted by Joswiak elsewhere in the interview. Andrew Chow writes:
While Apple trains its own models, it is nowhere near the technology’s frontier, leaving the company vulnerable to being left behind if super-smart AI transforms industry and society in the coming years…But Ternus and other Apple executives say they aren’t concerned. In the midst of a populist AI backlash, they contend that they are building a modest but personalized and privacy-preserving form of AI that will actually help ordinary people as opposed to merely dazzling Silicon Valley’s “lunatic fringe,” as Greg Joswiak, senior vice president of worldwide marketing, puts it.
Joswiak doesn’t define this “lunatic fringe,” but by contrasting it with Apple’s own efforts to “help ordinary people,” he’s making a clear distinction.
What are your takeaways from Greg Joswiak’s remarks on AI? Let us know in the comments.
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