Tim Cook Says AI Is as Transformative as Internet, Pledges Investment

• Tim Cook declares AI as transformative as internet, smartphones, pledges Apple will invest substantially, massively.
• Cook confirms acquisitions and infrastructure buildup, accelerating Siri overhaul, Apple poised for global AI leadership.

According to Bloomberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook held a rare all-hands meeting following the iPhone maker's earnings to rally employees around artificial intelligence and the company's upcoming 'amazing' product pipeline. Cook addressed Apple executives at the company's on-campus auditorium, telling them that the AI revolution is "as big or bigger" than internet, smartphones, cloud computing, and applications.

"Apple must do this. Apple will do this. Cook reportedly told his employees, "This is sort of ours to grab."

"We will make the investment to do it", he added.

Notably, during Apple's earnings call, Cook mentioned that the company was 'open' to mergers and acquisitions. According to previous reports, Apple has internally discussed buying AI search startup Perplexity or France's Mistral AI.

'We have rarely been first,' Tim Cook tells Apple employees.

Apple was months behind OpenAI, Alphabet, Microsoft, and others when it unveiled its Apple Intelligence features last year. Even after announcing these features, the company was unable to deliver them in time for the iPhone 16 launch, and many of them sparked controversy.

However, Cook appeared unconcerned about Apple Intelligence's patchy and delayed rollout, telling employees, "We've rarely been first."

"There was a PC before the Mac; a smartphone before the iPhone; many tablets before the iPad; and an MP3 player before the iPod," Cook explained.

However, Apple later developed 'modern' versions of these product categories. "This is how I feel about AI," he said.

Also Read: Apple Appoints Indian-Origin Sabih Khan as New COO

During the hour-long speech, Cook touched on a variety of topics, including the retirement of Apple COO Jeff Williams, increased Apple TV+ viewership, and advancements in health care features such as AirPods' hearing aid technology. There were also discussions about Apple employees' donations and community service, the company's goal to be carbon neutral by 2030, and the impact of regulations.

"The reality is that Big Tech is facing a lot of scrutiny around the world," Tom Cook said.

"We need to continue to push on the intent of the regulation and get them to offer that up, instead of these things that destroy the user experience, user privacy, and security," he added.