# Apple's Leadership Transition and YouTube's AI Defense Strategy

**Podcast:** TechCrunch Daily Crunch
**Published:** 2026-04-22

## Transcript

This is TechCrunch.
Streaming war noch nie so wow.
Who the heck is John Ternis, the incoming Apple CEO?
I'm Imran Shaikh, and your Wednesday Daily Crunch starts right now.
YouTube's expanding its new likeness detection technology, which identifies AI-generated content, such as deepfakes, to people within the entertainment industry the company announced on Tuesday.
Now, the tech works similarly to YouTube's existing Content ID system, which detects copyright-protected material in users' uploaded videos, allowing rights owners to request removal or share in the video's revenue.
Likeness detection does, well, the same, but for simulated faces.
The feature is meant to help protect creators and other public figures from having their identities used without their permission, a common problem for celebrities who find their likenesses have been used in scam ads.
The technology was first made available to a subset of YouTube creators in a pilot program last year, before expanding more broadly to include politicians, government officials, and journalists this spring.
Well, now, YouTube says the technology is being made available to those in the entertainment industry, including talent agencies, management companies, and the celebrities they represent.
The company's got support from major agencies like CAA, UTA, WME, and United Management, which offered feedback on the new tool.
Use of the likeness detection tool does not require entertainers to have their own YouTube channels.
Instead, the feature scans for AI-generated content to detect visual matches of an enrolled participant's face.
Users can then choose to request removal of the video for privacy policy violations, submit a copyright removal request, or, well, do nothing.
YouTube notes that it won't remove all content.
As you see, it permits parody and satire content under its rules.
In the future, the tech will support audio as well, the company says.
Well, after 15 years, Tim Apple, I mean Tim Cook, will hand off the Apple CEO role.
to John Ternus, the company's senior vice president of hardware engineering.
Starting on September 1st, Ternus will lead one of the world's most valuable companies.
But if you're not a dedicated Apple enthusiast, you've probably never heard of this guy, who has largely remained out of the spotlight.
Well, until now.
How long has John Ternus worked at Apple?
Well, Ternus has worked at Apple for nearly half of his life.
Now 51 years old, he's been with the company for 25 years.
You see, he joined Apple's product design team in 2001 as only his second job out of college.
His first was at a small maker of virtual reality devices called Virtual Research Systems.
By 2013, Ternus was a VP of hardware engineering and was promoted to the senior vice president role in 2021.
Ternus, who is 15 years younger than Cook, by the way, was among the youngest of top Apple executives who had been rumored as a possible successor, implying that Apple could be looking for someone to lead the company for a long time.
After all, Apple has only had two CEOs in this millennium, so it seems that leadership continuity is important to the company.
Turnus, for now, reports to Cook, who he considers a mentor and leads all of hardware engineering at Apple.
That's a pretty big deal for a company that's known for ubiquitous hardware, like the iPhone and the MacBook.
In his 2024 commencement speech at his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania's engineering school, Turnus reflected on the lessons he learned at Apple, which perhaps can tell us a bit about his character, or at least a sanitized version of it.
What projects did John Ternus lead at Apple?
Well, Ternus' earliest project at Apple involved scrutinizing parts for the Apple Cinema display, an early desktop monitor.
At some point in my first year, I found myself at a supplier facility.
I was far away from home.
Well past midnight, I was using a magnifying glass to count the number of grooves on the head of a screw, and I was arguing with the supplier because these parts had 35 grooves.
They were supposed to have 25, Ternus recalled in his commencement speech.
He continued, I distinctly remember stepping back for a minute and thinking, what the hell am I doing?
Is this normal?
As Ternus climbed the corporate ladder, his responsibilities grew as well.
He may no longer spend as much time analyzing screws, but he still seems to take pride in getting the little details right.
In a recent interview when Ternus was asked about his favorite memory of Steve Jobs, he mentioned the former Apple co-founder's attention to craftsmanship.
From there, he went on to lead the hardware development behind products across the Apple ecosystem, overseeing launches like AirPods, Apple Watch, and the Vision Pro.
He also had a hand in major technical upgrades at Apple, like Apple's transition from Intel chips to its own proprietary Apple Silicon.
Most recently, Ternus was involved in the production of the MacBook Neo, Apple's new, more affordable laptop model that lowers costs through some clever trade-offs in hardware design, like using an iPhone chip to power the device.
As CEO, Ternus is going to have to steer Apple through its challenge to catch up in the AI race and figure out what to do with the underlying tech behind the Vision Pro.
What else do we know about John Ternus?
Well, Ternus was on the swim team at UPenn.
For his senior project, he built a feeding arm that people with quadriplegia could control with head movements.
According to public records of political donations, Ternus donated $2,900 to Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat from New York in 2021.
Otherwise, Ternus has maintained a relatively low profile.
I'm betting that's going to change starting September 1st.
And folks, that's your Daily Crunch.
Today's stories were reported by Sarah Perez, Amanda Silverling and more awesome TechCrunch journalists.
We'll see you here tomorrow.
Same Tech Time, same Crunch Channel.
And until then, remember, you can find us at techcrunch.com.
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