Apple CEO Tim Cook continues the company’s 50th anniversary celebration with a press stop at Good Morning America on ABC News. The latest interview with Michael Strahan touches on a wide range of topics, including Apple’s greatest contribution, potential tariff refunds, Cook’s future as CEO, and more.
Save the Music and Apple’s greatest contribution
The interview starts with an announcement about Apple’s expanding partnership with Save the Music:
“We’re announcing today that we’re expanding the number of schools that we’re reaching from 25 to almost double that, and so we’re going to be able to hit 25,000 kids next year with music education.”
Cook then goes down the list of Apple’s greatest contributions across 50 years:
“Oh my God, you know you can focus on the product moments: reinventing music, reinventing the smartphone, bringing the creative arts to the table, the creative graphics, saving people’s lives with the watch.”
Society, AI, and privacy
Next, Cook is asked about Apple products and their impact on society:
“Well, I don’t want people using them too much. I don’t want people looking at the smartphone more than they’re looking in someone’s eyes — as if there’s just scrolling endlessly — this is not the way you want to spend your day. Go out and spend it in nature.”
Cook says that AI as a technology is neutral, but it’s impact is up to the user and technology creator:
“I think AI is profound and can be so positive. But, you know, technology doesn’t want to be good and it doesn’t want to be bad. It’s in the hands of the user and the hands of the inventor.”
Then Cook points to Apple’s Private Cloud Compute as a privacy-centric model for AI:
“Well, we do as much as possible on the device. And on the device is encrypted, which means that even Apple doesn’t have access to it. And then when we can’t answer a question on your device, we send it to something called Private Cloud Compute, which is essentially, think of it as a big device in the sky that has the same kind of security and architecture as your phone.”
Investing in America
“We’re putting 600 billion into the U.S. over the next four years. And in fact, if you look at your iPhone today, the front cover and back cover, that, all of that glass will be coming out of Kentucky by the end of this year. The engine, the system-on-a-chip. We’re going to make over 100 million of those in Arizona this year. We’re going to make over 20 billion semiconductors in the U.S. And again, this is not only for the U.S. market-sold iPhones. It’s for worldwide iPhones.”
“We’ve invested more in the U.S. We’re a very proud American company and want to do as much here as we possibly can.”
No mention of Apple’s Made in America Mac mini, but we know it’s coming.
On tariff refunds and politics
Perhaps most newsworthy is how Cook responds when asked about Apple potentially suing the government over tariff refunds after the Supreme Court ruled that billions in tariffs were collected illegally. Strahan notes that Apple paid some $3.3 billion in tariffs that could come back.
“Well, we’re monitoring the situation and to see what the courts will rule there. And we’ll decide accordingly.”
Strahan also asked Cook about his public perception after attending President Trump’s inauguration, issuing gold statue gift, and attending the Melania movie screening:
“Well, what I do is I interact on policy, not politics. I’m not a political person, on either side, I’m not political. And so I’m kind of straight down the middle, and I focus on policy. And so I’m very pleased that the President and the administration is accessible to talk about policy.”
Retirement ‘rumor’
Lastly, Strahan asked Cook about reportedly wanting to step back a bit.
“No, I didn’t say that. I haven’t said that. That’s a rumor going around. Well, here’s the way I look at it: I love what I do deeply. 28 years ago, I walked into Apple, and I’ve loved every day of it since. We’ve had ups and downs, but the people I work with are so amazing. They bring out the best in me, and hopefully I can bring out the best in them. And Michael, I can’t imagine life without Apple.”
You can watch the interview in full at ABC News.
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