Apple’s AI chief John Giannandrea is stepping down from his position and will be replaced by Amar Subramanya, the former head of engineering for Google’s Gemini assistant, the company announced on Monday.
Giannandrea will continue to serve the company in a limited capacity before he retires in spring 2026, including as an advisor on its board.
The change in personnel comes after Apple failed to deliver on its promise of an improved, AI-powered Siri. Some of Siri’s AI features announced at WWDC 2024, such as its ability to draw from personal context and to autonomously take action on behalf of users, are yet to roll out.
Apple admitted earlier this year that developing those features was taking longer than expected as they ran into issues with older Siri code. The company, however, has committed to rolling out the features next year, and many expect them to arrive with iOS 26.4.
Earlier this year, there were also reports that CEO Tim Cook had lost his faith in Giannandrea and had handed over the AI reins to Vision Pro creator Mike Rockwell. Amidst all the delays, the company racked up numerous lawsuits for failing to deliver the features it advertised with the iPhone 16.
Amar Subramanya, on the other hand, walks in with a wealth of AI and machine learning experience. As Apple’s vice president of AI, he will be reporting directly to the company’s SVP of software engineering, Craig Federighi.
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Subramanya’s 16-year tenure at Google began as a research assistant, and later, he moved on to the roles of principal engineer and VP of engineering for Gemini. According to his LinkedIn profile, he left Google in June and took charge as Microsoft’s AI CVP just last July.
Apple’s also rumored to be moving towards another high-profile personnel change. CEO Tim Cook is reportedly stepping down early next year, and, John Ternus, the company’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, is being considered as his most likely replacement.
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Jibin is a tech news writer based out of Ahmedabad, India. Previously, he served as the editor of iGeeksBlog and is a self-proclaimed tech enthusiast who loves breaking down complex information for a broader audience.
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