What would Steve Jobs say about OpenAI’s ChatGPT? How would he feel about it? What would be Apple’s take on artificial intelligence if its cofounder were still alive? These are some of the questions the company’s customers ask. It’s been 14 years since Steve Jobs passed away, but his speeches, philosophy, and way of seeing the world still resonate with many in the tech community.
In times like these, when Apple is struggling with a lack of compelling AI features and a poor Siri that still can’t get the basics right, nor compete with the major AI players, we often turn to a familiar question: “What would Steve Jobs do?”
While I was watching some old Apple presentations with its cofounder, I stumbled on a Steve Jobs video from 1985 where he gave a speech at Lunds University in Sweden. What’s more, the video shows Steve Jobs predicting ChatGPT nearly four decades before it became a reality.
Here’s an excerpt from the video:
Do you know who Alexander the Great’s tutor was for about 14 years? It was Aristotle. When I read that, I became immensely jealous—I think I would’ve enjoyed that a great deal. But through the miracle of the printed page, I can at least read what Aristotle wrote without an intermediary. Maybe a professor can add to it, but I can still go directly to the source. That’s the foundation of our Western civilization. The problem is, I can’t ask Aristotle a question—I mean, I can, but I won’t get an answer. My hope is that in our lifetimes, we can create a new kind of tool, an interactive one. So that when the next Aristotle is alive, we can capture their worldview in a computer. And someday, a student will not only be able to read what Aristotle wrote, but also ask him a question—and get an answer. That’s what I hope we can do.
In a sense, this is exactly what ChatGPT does. It can gather knowledge, and by combining several sources, you can get insights that wouldn’t be possible on your own. While there are ongoing debates about where OpenAI trained its models, you can kind of ask Aristotle questions right now.
What’s interesting about this period is that in 1985, Steve Jobs, who had just turned 30, left Apple after an internal battle with then-CEO John Sculley and the board. While Apple wasn’t thriving at the time, Jobs had always envisioned technologies that would change the world, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Below, you can watch a portion of Jobs’ speech about this computational tool that could enhance our lives and the way we learn.
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Watch Steve Jobs predict ChatGPT 40 years ago originally appeared on BGR.com on Thu, 26 Jun 2025 at 08:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.