Apple AI chief John Giannandrea is stepping down, according to Apple announcement on Monday. The change comes as Apple struggles to get its AI-powered Siri back on track after delaying its launch earlier this year.
Now Amar Subramanya will serve as Apple’s vice president of artificial intelligence. Subramanya previously spent 16 years at Google Joining Microsoft’s Artificial Intelligence Division as Corporate Vice President of Artificial Intelligence in July. While at Apple, Subramanya will oversee the development of the company’s AI models, machine learning research and AI security.
Giannandrea, who previously led artificial intelligence and search at Google, joined Apple in 2018 to assist improve the company’s voice assistant.
In March, Apple postponed the release of a more personalized Siri, admitting that “it would take longer than we thought.” Bloomberg later reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook had “lost confidence” in Giannandrea’s ability to oversee the company’s artificial intelligence team, leading him to put Vision Pro leader Mike Rockwell in charge. Giannandrea will continue to work as an advisor before retiring in spring 2026.
Apple says Subramanya’s experience in implementing AI research into products “will be important to Apple’s continued innovation and future Apple Intelligence features.” As part of this change, Subramanya will report to Craig Federighi, Apple’s vice president of software. Apple expects to release an improved Siri next spring, according to a report: Bloomberg suggesting that the company will power some of the assistant’s novel features with a custom version of Google’s Gemini AI model.
“Artificial intelligence has long played a key role in Apple’s strategy, and we are pleased to welcome Amar to Craig’s leadership team and bring his extraordinary AI expertise to Apple,” Cook says in a statement. “In addition to expanding his leadership team and AI responsibilities with the addition of Amara, Craig has played a key role in leading our AI efforts, including overseeing our work to bring a more personalized Siri to users next year.”