Tim Cook isn’t going anywhere just yet — not during Apple’s 50th anniversary celebrations, not with the company preparing to launch the first foldable phonenot while the tech giant is trying to figure out how to beat the AI race.
In a sit-down interview with Good Morning America host and Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan this week, Cook, who turned 65 in November, said there was no truth to rumors that he was considering leaving Apple. He became the company’s CEO in 2011, 13 years after joining from Compaq.
“I love what I do deeply. Twenty-eight years ago, I joined Apple, and I’ve loved every day since,” Cook told Strahan. “We’ve had some tough times, but the people I work with are so amazing. They bring out the best in me, and I hope I can bring out the best in them.”
Strahan interviewed Cook during the Apple CEO’s visit to Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing & Visual Arts in Harlem, where students use Apple technology in partnership with the company and the nonprofit organization Save the Music.
Speculation about Cook’s departure has been swirling since last November, when the Financial Times cited unnamed sources as saying Apple was preparing to bring in a new CEO “as soon as next year.” Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman played down that report, saying he “would be surprised if Cook stepped down at the time suggested by the FT.”
During Cook’s tenure as CEO, Apple’s revenue nearly quadrupled, and the tech giant added a slew of new iPhone models, several more iPads, and updated Apple Watches and AirPods. This year, Apple introduced many new products, including MacBook Neowhich at $599 disrupted the budget laptop market. For the company the first foldable phone may come later this year.
Touch the grass
The GMA interview was short but wide-ranging, including Cook’s thoughts on how much people use their iPhones. Many studies estimate that people across most generations spend at least 4 hours a day on their phones, while millennials and Gen Z spend 5 to 6 hours.
When asked what he was most worried about about the impact of Apple products on society, Cook responded, telling Strahan that he didn’t want people using iPhones “too much.”
“I don’t want people looking at a smartphone rather than looking at someone’s eyes,” Cook said, “because if they’re scrolling endlessly, that’s not the way you want to spend your day. Get out and spend it in nature.”
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AI and privacy
Cook told Strahan that AI could be “hopeful,” but his response when asked if he was “concerned” about it was subdued.
“Technology doesn’t want to be good, and it doesn’t want to be bad,” Cook said. “It’s in the hands of the user and in the hands of the inventor.”
Strahan asked how much of iPhone users’ private lives feed Apple’s AI machine learning. Cook told him that because the smartphone is encrypted, Apple cannot access it. He continued: “If we can’t answer a question on your phone, we send it to something called private cloud computing, which is a big device in the sky that has the same kind of security and infrastructure as your phone.”
On its website, Apple says it “does not use our users’ personal data or user interactions when training our underlying models.”
So far, Apple has been cautious about entering the AI fray. While Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft are spending nearly $700 billion combined on AI technology this year, Apple is “only” investing $14 billion.
Trump and taxes
Cook has been very liberal in criticizing the Trump administration: donating $1 million to the inauguration of President Donald Trump; giving him a 24-karat gold plate; and attending a White House screening of Melania, a film about the First Lady.
The Apple executive told Strahan he was “not a political person” on either side.
“I’m straight down the middle, and I’m focused on policy,” Cook said. “So, I’m very happy that the president and the administration are able to talk about policy.”
One of those policies has been tariffs, which Trump has imposed on many countries to varying degrees during his second term in office, aimed at pushing companies to relocate to the US. The president has largely saved Apple, which has promised to invest 600 billion in four years to make more products in the US.
Cook told Strahan that the front and back glass for the iPhone will come out of Kentucky by the end of the year, and that 100 million chip engines will be produced in Arizona this year. He also noted that 20 billion semiconductors will be manufactured in the US. “We’re a very proud American company, and we want to do as much here as we can,” Cook said.
