Is it time for a new kind of CEO at Apple?
's continuing
artificial intelligence
(AI) problems mean a few brave analysts are saying the quiet part out loud: it might be time for
Tim Cook
to go.
'Apple now needs a product-focused CEO, not one centred on logistics,' New York-based LightShed Partners said in a recent note.
The note made waves, but Cook's position is thought to be secure. Apple's board is loyal and while shares have lagged behind over the past year few investors are reaching for the panic button.
Under Cook, Apple's market value has ballooned from $340 billion (€293 billion) to $3.1 trillion, a return that tends to silence complaints. Still, that Cook's position is even being discussed says something.
READ MORE
No one disputes Cook's achievements – even LightShed admits he has done 'a great job' since 2011 – but some wonder if the traits that suited Apple's past may not fit its future.
A master of optimisation, Cook perfects rather than pioneers. That made him the ideal steward of Apple's golden decade. Under his tenure, margins stayed fat, supply chains got leaner and stock buy-backs flowed. He kept the iPhone at the heart of a sleek ecosystem and steered Apple through Covid and geopolitical headwinds.
However, much of this success came from refining and scaling ideas inherited from the
Steve Jobs
era. Whether he's the one to lead Apple's next act is less clear, with some suggesting AI demands a different skill set, one rooted in bold product vision rather than operational mastery.
For now, Cook remains firmly in charge, but the AI era is forcing even Apple to confront uncomfortable questions about what comes next.
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Irish Times
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- Irish Times
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'Despite AI's potential to enhance sectors like healthcare, education and business, it often mirrors reality and its societal prejudices and can manifest itself through unequal treatment in hiring decisions, academic recommendations or healthcare diagnostics, systematically disadvantaging women,' according to Jerlyn Ho and other Singapore-based academics writing in the scholarly journal Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans . READ MORE Their paper explores how AI systems and chatbots, notably ChatGPT , can perpetuate gender biases due to inherent flaws in training data, algorithms and user feedback loops. Despite its proven bias, GenAI is being used widely to decide who gets hired, fired and promoted. Research has shown that GenAI discriminates against women by spewing pseudoscientific 'facts' and stereotypes of women as being less professionally ambitious or intelligent than men. 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