Apple Executive Says Some Firms Are Building AI Without Regard For Humans

For years, Apple has been criticised for lagging behind in AI. In what was a clear response to that, Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, during his keynote at the Apple WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) 2026, dropped a veiled jab, as the Cupertino company rolled out Siri AI - a massive overhaul of Apple's digital assistant powered by advanced artificial intelligence models, including a new backbone partnership with Google Gemini.

"Some appear to be racing forward, seemingly pursuing AI for the sake of AI, without clear regard for the people - all of us - that it's ultimately meant to serve," Federighi said.

Calling AI an "incredibly powerful technology" he added that "At Apple, our mission has always been to turn the potential of advanced technology into helpful and intuitive products for everyone." 

The AI race comment comes in the backdrop of tech companies' mad rush to achieve advancements in artificial intelligence such as AGI or artificial general intelligence (a type of AI that matches or surpasses human capabilities across virtually all cognitive tasks). Most tech leaders in the space from Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis to Tesla and xAI's Elon Musk believe AGI is knocking on the doors of humanity and it could be reality very soon. 

Amid this narrative, there are increasing fears of not just entry-level and mid-tier jobs but highly skilled jobs also getting wiped out by AI. 

"Work that we would usually do with people with master's and PhDs in finance over the course of weeks or months, being done by AI agents over the course of hours or days. So these are not mid-tier white-collar jobs. These are like extraordinarily high-skilled jobs being automated by agentic AI," billionaire hedge fund boss and Citadel Founder and CEO Ken Griffin recently said. Agentic AI, which is already here, is an autonomous form of AI where the system can plan and execute tasks by itself with minimal human intervention.

Also read: Why One Of Finance's Most Powerful Leaders Says AI Left Him "Depressed"

Griffin is not alone in voicing concerns about AI's social impact. Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei has repeatedly warned that increasingly capable AI systems could cause significant disruption to society.

In fact, Amodei has called for all AI companies to come together to slow down or even pause AI development. 

Also read: Humans May Lose Control As AI Starts Building Itself, Warns Anthropic

A comment from a senior Apple executive at a time like this is strategic, as there is rising anger and anxiety around AI among the larger global population. It is a clear signal from one of the world's most valuable companies that it is on your side as the AI rhetoric plays out.