Summary

Gruber pushes back against Steven Levy's argument that Apple's next CEO needs to launch a 'killer AI product,' arguing that AI is a pervasive technology like wireless networking, not a standalone product category. He agrees with John Ternus's stated philosophy that Apple ships products and experiences, not technologies. Gruber dismantles Levy's specific predictions about AI agents replacing the iPhone ecosystem as implausible fever dreams disconnected from how actual products work. He draws an analogy to wireless networking: Apple doesn't have a 'killer wireless product,' but wireless pervades everything they make. That's what AI will be — not one defining device, but a technology woven into all devices.

Key Insight

AI is a pervasive enabling technology like wireless networking, not a product category — Apple doesn't need a 'killer AI product' any more than it needed a 'killer wireless networking product.'

Spicy Quotes (click to share)

• 8

  It's hard to read this and not worry that he too has lost his mind to the AI snake-oil hypesters.

• 5

  The Apple way is never to ship a technology. The iPod wasn't about MP3 files. It wasn't about 1.8-inch hard drives. It was about music.

• 6

  Levy's argument reminds me of the hype around 'the cloud' when that first became a term. It's so meaningless when used broadly that it could mean anything.

• 7

  The idea that AI agents 'will have already figured out where we need to go, and the car will be waiting without the friction of a request' strikes me as pure fever dream high-on-the-hype fantasy.

• 4

  Actual products have to be real. Actual experiences have to rely on actual products.

• 5

  Only a fool would argue that Apple can stand on the sidelines and ignore AI. It's very different from, say, social media that way.

• 6

  There's not going to be one 'killer AI device'. Everything is going to be an AI device, to some extent, just like how everything today is a wireless connectivity device, to some extent.

• 5

  Why would smaller devices — you know, like watches, earbuds, and, say, glasses — work independently rather than pair with the phone that you're almost certainly still going to be carrying with you?

Tone

opinionated