Apple's Former CEO Calls OpenAI Its First Real Competitor in Decades Amid AI Race

Apple is facing its first real competitor in decades, according to John Sculley, the company’s former CEO. Speaking at the Zeta Live conference in New York City, Sculley identified OpenAI as the most significant challenge Apple has encountered in recent history. He noted that AI has not been a core strength for Apple, pointing to the company’s slower pace in AI innovation compared to rivals like OpenAI, Google, Amazon, and Meta. Apple has struggled to keep up with the rapid release cycles of AI-powered products and services. Its long-delayed AI overhaul for Siri, once expected to bring major improvements, was postponed earlier this year, highlighting gaps in the company’s AI execution. Sculley emphasized that Apple now needs to transition from the era of apps to what he called the "agentic era," where intelligent AI agents can autonomously perform complex tasks on behalf of users, reducing the need for multiple standalone applications. In this new era, Sculley believes subscription-based models will dominate, offering a more sustainable and customer-centric approach than selling individual apps or devices. “When we had apps at the center of everything, it was selling tools, selling products,” he said. “When you think of subscription, it's about people paying for something as long as they need it.” Sculley, 86, recently stepped down from his role as cofounder and vice chairman of Zeta Global, taking on the title of vice chairman emeritus. He also commented on speculation surrounding Tim Cook’s potential retirement, stating that Apple’s next leader will need to guide the company through this pivotal shift in technology. Adding to the narrative, Jony Ive, Apple’s former chief design officer and a key architect behind the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad, has joined OpenAI. Ive’s design firm was acquired by OpenAI earlier this year for over $6 billion. At OpenAI’s DevDay conference, Ive expressed his hope that the new devices being developed would address the shortcomings of smartphones and tablets, which he believes have caused unintended consequences since their rise. Sculley praised Ive’s potential impact, saying, “If there’s anyone who is probably going to be able to bring that dimension to the LLM, in this case OpenAI, it's probably going to be Jony Ive, working with Sam Altman.” The move underscores a major talent shift from Apple to OpenAI, signaling a new chapter in the battle for AI leadership.