Apple Intelligence has been seven years in the making, says Cook

It's been repeatedly claimed that Apple is behind the industry on artificial intelligence, and that's just as often been refuted. Now before it became known as Apple Intelligence, Tim Cook says that AI crept up on Apple — but crept up a long time ago.

"I wouldn't say there was an aha moment," he told Steven Levy in Wired. "It built like a wave, or like rolling thunder."

"Back in 2017 we built a neural engine into our products," he continued. "It was already apparent that AI and machine learning were huge... It became obvious that we had to divert lots of people to it, that it would be a new era for our products."

It was 2018 when Apple hired away Google's head of AI, John Giannandrea, and he has said that machine learning soon permeated everything. But it wasn't until 2024 that Apple announced Apple Intelligence.

Following the announcement at WWDC, Apple debuted certain Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.1. Much more is due in iOS 18.2, and it is intended to continue improving at least throughout 2025.

Making AI useful but private

Saying that Apple "wanted to innovate in such a way that things would be personal and private," Cook reveals that there was a debate before settling on the name Apple Intelligence. But he also says that there was no debate and not even a discussion about charging users for AI tools.

"We never talked about charging for it," says Cook. "We view it sort of like multitouch, which enabled the smartphone revolution and the modern tablet."

Cook insists that Apple Intelligence doesn't replace people, it helps them do things better. "It's still coming from you," he says. "It's your thoughts and your perspective."

He makes the analogy that "Logic Pro helps musicians create music, but they're still the author." And he compares AI to "the productivity that came from the advent of the personal computer."

Cook is less convincing about one of Apple's own ads that sees a job candidate use Apple Intelligence to rewrite their cover letter to sound more professional.

"By using the tool, [the application] comes across as more polished," he says. "It's still your decision to use the tool. It's like you and I collaborating on something — one plus one can equal more than two, right?"

Working at Apple Park

Cook is also enthused about the collaboration he says Apple Park has brought, calling the decision to build it a 100-year decision."

"[There] are so many places here where you just unexpectedly run into people," he says. "In the cafeteria, at the coffee bar, outside when you're going across the pathway."

It's now three years since Cook said he would "probably" be leaving Apple within a decade. Today he won't put such an exact figure on it, although he says that he gets "asked that question now more than I used to."

"It's a privilege of a lifetime to be here," he continues, "and I'll do it until the voice in my head says, 'It's time,' and then I'll go and focus on what the next chapter looks like."

"But it's hard to imagine life without Apple, because my life has been wrapped up in this company since 1998," says Cook. "It's the overwhelming majority of my adult life. And so I love it."

Separately, Cook has recently been talking more about the start of his career, rather than its end. He's talked about how a family work ethic helps him at Apple today.