Apple’s Senior Vice President of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, John Giannandrea, is stepping down from his position, the company confirmed on Monday. His departure follows a highly scrutinized period for Apple’s AI initiatives, most notably the repeated delays in delivering the highly anticipated, fully integrated AI overhaul of the Siri voice assistant, a core feature of the “Apple Intelligence” platform.
Giannandrea, who joined Apple from Google seven years ago, will transition to an advisory role before his official retirement in spring 2026. The executive’s tenure came under fire as Apple struggled to catch up with rivals in the generative AI space. The failure to deliver the advanced Siri features as promised led to internal reorganization and even class-action lawsuits from disappointed iPhone 16 buyers.
Apple announced that Giannandrea will be replaced by veteran AI researcher Amar Subramanya, who joins the company as Vice President of AI. Subramanya is a significant, high-profile hire, most recently having served as the head of engineering for Google’s rival Gemini Assistant. This move signals Apple’s firm intent to leverage aggressive external talent to accelerate its lagging AI roadmap.
he leadership change places new VP Amar Subramanya under the supervision of software chief Craig Federighi, who has taken on an expanded role overseeing the Siri project. The transition reflects Apple’s decisive shift in strategy as it races to deploy the personalized and powerful AI experiences that were delayed under the previous leadership.
