Apple has announced a major leadership change in its artificial intelligence division, as John Giannandrea, the company’s AI chief since 2018, steps down. Giannandrea will remain as an adviser through the spring, but his departure marks a pivotal shift for Apple’s AI strategy amid a series of public missteps.
Amar Subramanya, a former Microsoft executive with 16 years at Google, is stepping into the role, bringing deep experience in AI and product engineering, including work on Google’s Gemini Assistant. Industry observers see the hire as a strategic move to leverage Subramanya’s insider knowledge of Apple’s main competitors. His mandate will be to revitalize Apple’s AI efforts and address the ongoing challenges with Siri and other machine learning projects.
Apple Intelligence, launched in October 2024, has faced significant criticism. Early features, like the notification summary, frequently produced incorrect or misleading information, attracting attention from global media outlets including the BBC. Siri’s promised AI overhaul also faltered, with internal tests revealing many features were nonfunctional just weeks before launch, eventually triggering class-action lawsuits from iPhone 16 buyers.
A Bloomberg investigation highlighted internal dysfunction, including poor communication between AI and marketing teams, misaligned budgets, and a leadership vacuum. The report also documented an exodus of top AI talent to competitors like OpenAI, Google, and Meta. Apple has reportedly turned to Google’s Gemini system to bolster Siri, underscoring the company’s struggle to keep pace in the fiercely competitive AI landscape.
Subramanya inherits a unique challenge: leading Apple’s AI strategy while staying true to its privacy-first, on-device computing philosophy. Unlike rivals relying on massive cloud data centers, Apple emphasizes local processing to protect user data, a trade-off that may limit the capabilities of its AI models. Industry watchers will be closely monitoring whether Subramanya can bridge the gap and restore Apple’s position in the AI arms race.
source: Techcrunch