John Ternus officially becomes Apple’s chief executive today, taking over from Tim Cook. For the AI industry, his first day arrives with an unusual distinction: Apple is now the only major technology company without its own frontier language model — and it’s currently suing OpenAI.
The transition has been in the works, but the timing creates an immediate strategic headache. While Microsoft has Copilot, Google has Gemini, and Meta has Llama, Apple relies entirely on partnerships for AI capabilities. Apple Intelligence currently runs on OpenAI’s GPT models through a deal that Apple itself is now challenging in court.
The lawsuit, filed earlier this year, accuses OpenAI of improperly sharing proprietary technology. Yet Apple depends on GPT to power AI features across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It’s a peculiar position for a company that controls one of the most valuable consumer platforms in the world — and one that generates more mobile AI inference requests than any other manufacturer.
Industry observers note that Ternus inherits a management team that has run Apple for decades. His first challenge will be deciding whether to build, buy, or continue partnering for AI. Building a frontier model would require billions in investment and years of development. Acquiring an existing lab would face regulatory scrutiny. And continuing the OpenAI partnership while suing them creates its own awkward dynamics.
Apple’s alternative path has been emphasizing on-device AI and privacy — positioning Apple Intelligence as a more secure, localized alternative to cloud-based models. But as AI capabilities increasingly require frontier-level reasoning, that differentiation narrows. The company that defined the smartphone era now faces a moment where AI strategy is no longer optional — it’s existential.