Apple CEO John Ternus says Siri AI is being built as an assistant, not something users should form personal relationships with.
“Siri AI is not designed to be your friend, right? It’s designed to be an assistant and it’ll kind of resist any attempts to create a relationship or something like that,” Ternus said in an interview with French program Clique on Canal+.
Asked about people treating AI as a friend, therapist or romantic partner, Ternus said Apple does not want technology replacing real-world connections. “Human relationships are very important, right? They’re how we learn, they’re how we grow, they’re how we find joy and happiness. And so, we don’t want to replace human relationships,” he said.
Ternus also talked about how Apple approaches kids and screen time. He said his own children use Apple devices, but his family sets clear limits around when and how they can use them. “As a family we talked about a lot, right? And we managed a lot. And we said, ‘Here is the time when you can be using these things and these are the things you can use them for. And here are the times when you shouldn’t be on your device.’”
Apple recently added stronger parental controls and new Screen Time tools across its latest software updates.
One of the more interesting moments came when Ternus was asked whether someone with last year’s iPhone actually needs to upgrade, just days after the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max launched in Canada. His answer was basically no.
“If somebody wants to use your phone for many, many years, it is going to be fine,” he said. He added that Apple designs its products to last, while older devices can often move on to second or even third owners through trade-ins.
Ternus also shared a small detail about how he became Apple CEO earlier this month. He said Tim Cook and Apple’s board approached him about taking the job, and the conversation caught him off guard. “When Tim asked me if it was something I would consider, I would say the good news is I was sitting down,” Ternus said.
He added that becoming CEO was something he “never in a million years would have imagined.”
Check out the full interview below, which took place at Apple Park:
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