Apple CEO Tim Cook this morning participated in a virtual interview at the VivaTech conference, which is described as Europe's biggest startup and tech event.

Privacy goes to the heart of just one of the key values of Apple.

Talk of privacy values led to a discussion of "GAFA," an acronym used in France that lumps Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon together.

Cook said he doesn't like that particular acronym because it paints a picture that "all companies are monolithic in nature," and those companies have "different business models and different values.".

Cook was also asked about regulation, specifically in Europe because the event was taking place in France.

He commented on the GDPR, and said Apple would support even stronger privacy laws.

We were big supporters of GDPR from the beginning, and we would support going even further than the GDPR in privacy because there's still so much left to do in the privacy world.

Cook said that such a move would destroy the security of the ‌iPhone‌.

As we look at that, that would destroy the security of the ‌iPhone‌ and a lot of the privacy initiatives that we've built into the App Store, where we have privacy nutrition labels and App Tracking Transparency that forces people to get permission to track across apps.

"Because we've designed iOS in such a way that there's one ‌App Store‌ and all of the apps are reviewed prior to going on the store." Cook said that he's "optimistic" about the discussions, and that Apple will be "standing up for the user.".

Cook was also asked about how Apple reconciles its environmental goals with shipping a new ‌iPhone‌ every year, but he mostly skirted the question with a discussion of Apple's environmental efforts and plans to make the entire supply chain carbon neutral by 2030.

Cook said that he's excited about "so many things" coming in the future, including AR and AI.

Cook said that he's "exceedingly optimistic" about the intersection of technology and health.

Apple initially looked at the Apple Watch from a wellness point of view, but then started getting emails from people who had discovered heart problems from the heart rate sensor, which led to Apple adding more health features into the Apple Watch.

Cook was asked about Apple's failures, and he says that Apple fails all the time, but tries to do so internally as to not impact customers.

At the end of the discussion, Cook was asked about the Apple Car, and he of course declined to comment.

iOS 15 introduces new features for FaceTime calls, tools to reduce distractions, a new notifications experience, added privacy features, complete redesigns for Safari, Weather, and Maps, and more