John Giannandrea is Leaving Apple

Widely blamed for the problems Apple had adding AI to Siri, AI executive John Giannandrea is leaving the company. AI researcher Amar Subramanya has joined Apple as vice president of AI and will report to Craig Federighi. He previously worked on AI at Google and Microsoft.

“We are thankful for the role John played in building and advancing our AI work, helping Apple continue to innovate and enrich the lives of our users,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said. “AI has long been central to Apple’s strategy, and we are pleased to welcome Amar to Craig’s leadership team and to bring his extraordinary AI expertise to Apple. In addition to growing his leadership team and AI responsibilities with Amar’s joining, Craig has been instrumental in driving our AI efforts, including overseeing our work to bring a more personalized Siri to users next year.”

Apple hired Giannandrea away from Google in 2018, and it seemed like quite the coup at the time. He took over Apple’s AI efforts, was quickly elevated to Apple’s executive team, and he reported directly to CEO Tim Cook. But several years later, there’s little forward progress to show. Siri is particularly embarrassing, especially given that Apple was the first Big Tech company to bring a digital assistant to market.

Apple had taken control of Siri away from Giannandrea in March after his team failed to adapt the technology for Apple Intelligence as promised at WWDC 2024. Since then, he’s led the work to develop Apple’s foundational AI models, while Vision Pro creator Mike Rockwell has taken over Siri. In his new role as vice president of AI, Subramanya will take over the foundational AI model work, and the rest of Giannandrea is being moved elsewhere within Apple.

“With Giannandrea’s contributions as a foundation, Federighi’s expanded oversight, and Subramanya’s deep expertise guiding the next generation of AI technologies, Apple is poised to accelerate its work in delivering intelligent, trusted, and profoundly personal experiences,” Apple claims. “This moment marks an exciting new chapter as Apple strengthens its commitment to shaping the future of AI for users everywhere.”