Apple is making major changes to its AI leadership team as the company struggles to keep up with competitors in artificial intelligence.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, CEO Tim Cook has lost confidence in John Giannandrea, Apple’s longtime AI chief, and is bringing in a new leader to fix Siri.
Mike Rockwell, the exec behind Apple’s Vision Pro headset, is now taking over Siri development and will report directly to software chief Craig Federighi. This move effectively removes Siri from Giannandrea’s control.
Sources familiar with the situation told Bloomberg that Apple’s AI efforts have been falling behind, and internal discussions at a recent secretive company summit focused on how to turn things around. The biggest concern is Siri, which has failed to deliver promised AI features for iPhone 16 users. Apple has advertised a more powerful Siri with deeper access to user data, but so far these updates aren’t even available yet six months later.
Internally, Apple executives have acknowledged the problems. Siri’s outgoing manager, Robby Walker, recently called the delays “ugly” and “embarrassing” in a team meeting. He also admitted that Apple doesn’t have a firm timeline for when the AI upgrades will actually be released, which is pretty shocking.
The decision to put Rockwell in charge of Siri is a sign that Apple wants someone with a track record of shipping complex products. Rockwell helped lead the development of the Vision Pro, a high-tech but expensive niche device. Now, Apple is betting that he can bring the same level of innovation and urgency to Siri.
Giannandrea is staying at Apple and will continue working on AI research and long-term projects.
Siri has been a disaster when compared to other smart assistants and generative AI chatbots–there’s no way to sugar coat it. Apple needs to act quickly here to bring forth its promised super smart Siri it advertised for the iPhone 16 series.
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