Apple, long regarded as a near-untouchable force in consumer technology, is finally facing what one of its former leaders calls its “first real competitor in decades.” That competitor, according to former Apple CEO John Sculley, is none other than OpenAI the artificial intelligence powerhouse behind ChatGPT.
Speaking at the Zeta Live conference in New York City, Sculley said Apple has entered unfamiliar territory in the age of AI. “AI has not been a particular strength for them,” he remarked, pointing to how rapidly OpenAI and others have reshaped the tech landscape with constant updates and groundbreaking tools. Sculley, who led Apple from 1983 to 1993, believes the rise of generative and “agentic” AI signals a pivotal shift one that Apple has yet to fully embrace.
Apple, known for its tightly integrated ecosystem and hardware innovation, has been slower than many rivals to roll out major AI advancements. While Google, Amazon, Meta, and OpenAI continue to release new products and features at a blistering pace, Apple’s updates have been more conservative. Earlier this year, the company even delayed a significant overhaul of its voice assistant Siri, signaling internal challenges in integrating AI deeply into its ecosystem. Apple did not respond to a request for comment on Sculley’s remarks.
Sculley, who joined Apple after a successful marketing career at Pepsi-Cola, is no stranger to the company’s internal tensions. His tenure was marked by a high-profile rift with Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, who left the company in 1985 following board disputes before triumphantly returning in 1997 to rescue Apple from near bankruptcy. Sculley’s perspective carries a unique weight he once led Apple through one of its most turbulent periods, helping to establish the Mac brand through iconic marketing campaigns.
Now, at 86, Sculley sees another inflection point coming. He believes Apple’s next CEO will need to steer the company from what he calls the “apps era” into the “agentic era.” “In the agentic era, we don’t need a lot of apps it can all be done with smart agents,” he said. Agentic AI, a term gaining traction in the industry, refers to artificial intelligence systems capable of autonomously performing complex tasks on behalf of users.
Sculley envisions a world where digital agents automate the cognitive heavy lifting for knowledge workers drafting documents, managing workflows, and even making decisions within set parameters. In his view, this transition will force tech giants to rethink their entire business models. “When we had apps at the center of everything, it was selling tools, selling products,” he explained. “When you think of subscription, it’s about people paying for something as long as they need it.” Subscription-based models, he added, represent a more stable and lucrative foundation for the next generation of tech companies.
That shift is already visible. As AI becomes increasingly embedded in everyday software and devices, consumers are moving away from one-time purchases toward recurring payments for services that continuously evolve. Apple’s App Store ecosystem, while enormously profitable, still relies heavily on the app paradigm that Sculley believes is fading. The challenge for Apple, he suggested, will be evolving its design philosophy and software ecosystem quickly enough to compete in this new AI-driven world.
Adding another twist to Apple’s AI challenge is the reappearance of one of its most influential figures former design chief Jony Ive. OpenAI recently acquired Ive’s device startup for more than $6 billion, a move that could deepen the competition between the two companies. Ive, best known for designing the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad, revealed at OpenAI’s DevDay conference that his new projects aim to address the downsides of modern smart devices.
Sculley spoke admiringly of Ive’s potential to shape OpenAI’s future. “He’s the one who actually designed and built the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad,” Sculley said. “If there’s anyone who can bring that dimension to the LLM in this case, OpenAI it’s probably going to be Jony Ive, working with Sam Altman.” His comments underscore the sense that Apple’s traditional dominance in hardware and user experience design could face direct competition from a new generation of AI-native devices.
While Apple continues to work behind the scenes on its own AI initiatives, including a long-rumored generative AI platform, its deliberate pace contrasts sharply with OpenAI’s relentless experimentation. For decades, Apple’s brand has revolved around perfecting the user experience but as the definition of “user experience” evolves to include conversational AI, intelligent agents, and autonomous systems, its carefully curated ecosystem could find itself under pressure to reinvent.
Sculley’s message to Apple was clear: the AI revolution won’t wait. To stay ahead, the company must adapt as the world transitions from apps to agents, from devices to ecosystems, and from tools to intelligent collaborators. For the first time in decades, Apple’s greatest challenge may not be competition from another tech giant but from the very intelligence reshaping the future of computing.
