Apple co-founder Wozniak breaks silence after passing out and being hospitalised

10 November 2023 , 11:15

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Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak speaks at the Novathon Conference in Budapest, Hungary, on Oct. 30, 2019 (Image: AP)

The co-founder of Apple has confirmed that he suffered a stroke while attending the World Business Forum.

Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, experienced a health scare while attending the World Business Forum in Mexico City. On that day, he reported feeling dizzy in the morning while working on his computer, followed by vertigo and difficulty walking.

READ MORE: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak hospitalized as tech giant feared to have suffered stroke

The 73-year-old sought medical attention and went to the hospital, where an MRI revealed that he had suffered a "minor but real stroke," as he told ABC News.

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Due to his health condition, Wozniak did not deliver the scheduled speech on the "digital future" at the World Business Forum. He is no longer in the hospital and has confirmed that he is "flying home" to the US.

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Sources said yesterday that Wozniak had fainted while at the forum. He was said to have fainted just minutes before his participation at the event after he reported "feeling strange". After telling his wife he wasn't feeling right, she raised the alarm, with Wozniak reportedly resisting going to the hospital initially, only agreeing after his wife insisted.

As he underwent tests at the hospital, his team flew 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. Local news outlet Reforma reported that Mr Wozniak remained in hospital in a stable condition and received "first-class treatment."

Stephen Wozniak, also known as "Woz" in the tech world co-founded Apple Computer in 1976 with Steve Jobs, contributing significantly to the personal computer revolution.

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)

Wozniak played a key role in developing the Apple I and designed the highly successful Apple II, one of the first mass-produced microcomputers. He had a major influence on the early concepts of the Apple Macintosh.

After leaving Apple in 1985, Wozniak founded CL 9 and created the first programmable universal remote. While remaining a ceremonial employee of Apple, he has been involved in various entrepreneurial and philanthropic ventures, particularly in technology and education.

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.

Vassia Barba