Apple announced today that CEO Tim Cook will step down in September, prompting a wave of tributes from tech leaders—including a notably warm one from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
On X, Altman called Cook "a legend" and thanked him for his contributions to Apple and the industry. The praise comes just months after Apple and OpenAI struck their first major partnership in 2024, integrating ChatGPT into Siri and Apple’s writing tools.
https://twitter.com/sama/status/2046330825265086712
Not everyone was quite so reverent. Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey posted a cheeky "RIP Tim Apple" on X, riffing on the infamous 2019 moment when then-President Donald Trump mistakenly called Cook "Tim Apple" during a White House event.
https://twitter.com/PalmerLuckey/status/2046333087932661946
Cook handled the original gaffe with trademark humor, briefly changing his Twitter display name to replace "Cook" with an apple logo. Luckey, who left Facebook in 2017 and later founded defense contractor Anduril, clearly hasn’t forgotten the bit.
Cook took over Apple in 2011 after founder Steve Jobs resigned, steering the company to a trillion-dollar market cap and transforming its services and wearables divisions into major growth engines. His tenure also saw Apple deepen its AI ambitions, including the recent OpenAI deal and broader moves into enterprise tools—a shift that’s reshaping the industry as companies like OpenAI pivot toward developer and business-focused products.
Cook’s successor, Jeff Williams (referred to in some reports as "Tenuosi"), currently oversees all of Apple’s hardware engineering, including the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and AirPods lines.