09 November 2023 , 09:47
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Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has been rushed to hospital as it is feared the tech giant has suffered a stroke.
Reports in Mexico state the Apple co-founder has suffered a stroke, though this has not yet been confirmed. Mr Wozniak, now aged 73, was in Mexico City attending the World Business Forum, a major business conference.
Sources say the tech superstar had fainted yesterday afternoon while at the event. He's said to have fainted just minutes before his participation at the event after he reported "feeling strange".
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After telling his wife he wasn't feeling right, she raised the alarm, with Mr Wozniak reportedly resisting going to the hospital initially, only agreeing after his wife insisted. As he underwent tests at the hospital, his team was flying to Mexico City on a private jet to check in on him and see whether he needed to be flown to the US for treatment.
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Local news outlet Reforma reported that Mr Wozniak remains in hospital in a stable condition and is receiving "first-class treatment."
Steve Jobs (left) and Steve Wozniak at the first West Coast Computer Faire, where the Apple II computer was debuted, in Brooks Hall, San Francisco, California, April, 1977 (Getty Images)Known affectionately as 'Woz' in the tech world, Mr Wozniak co-founded Apple with the late Steve Jobs in 1976.
He is a veteran of Silicon Valley who invented Apple's first computer, before the company went on to become the largest and most valuable company on the planet. Apple is now worth $2.8trillion.
Despite being worth more than $100 million, Mr Wozniak has previously said that building computers was never for a financial reward. He explained: "I was never into money in any way - finance - to this day I have never used Apple stock app, I don't buy and sell stock."
He even went as far as to sell practically all of his Bitcoin holdings when the price went up. He said: "I don't want that kind of care in my life. Part of my happiness is not to have worries."
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is worth a reported $100 million todayHe said his simple formula for a successful life is his happiness, which he said he discovered when he was 20. He elaborated: "If I died and had all this wealth and yachts and all this stuff, would I be as happy as when I laugh? And I thought about the pranks I played and jokes I had told and music I would hear that would make me smile, and I came up with my formula that life is about happiness."
Back in March, the tech pioneer signed a letter alongside Elon Musk calling for a pause in the development of powerful artificial intelligence (AI) models. He called for regulation of AI, fearing the technology would be harnessed by "bad actors".
"Ai is so intelligent it's open to the bad players, the ones that want to trick you about who they are," he said. As governments and regulators race to come up with ways to ensure AI is a tool used for good, and does not fall into the wrong hands, Mr Wozniak sounded a note of scepticism.
Steve Wozniak with wife Janet (FOX Image Collection via Getty Images)"I think the forces that drive for money usually win out, which is sort of sad," he said. As a pioneer of computing, he said missed opportunities at the birth of the internet can have lessons for today's tech minds behind AI.
Mr Wozniak believes "we can't stop the technology" but we can prepare people so they are better educated to spot things such as fraud and malicious attempts to take personal information. But, at the end of the day he believes that responsibility for anything generated by AI and then shared publicly should remain with those who publish it.
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"A human really has to take the responsibility for what is generated by AI," he said. He also wants regulation to hold tech firms which "feel they can kind of get away with anything" to account.