Apple’s top artificial intelligence executive, John Giannandrea, is stepping down, a significant change at a time when the tech giant is still trying to catch up with rivals in generative AI, especially with its voice assistant Siri. Apple announced John’s departure on Monday and thanked him for his seven years of service.
John Giannandrea, who has led Apple’s AI efforts since 2018, will be succeeded by Amar Subramanya. Giannandrea held the role of senior vice president and reported directly to CEO Tim Cook. Apple said he will stay on as an advisor until he retires next spring.
Who is Amar Subramanya?
Subramanya is an AI specialist who has worked at Microsoft and has also spent around 16 years at Google, according to his LinkedIn profile. In fact, he has led engineering for the Gemini Assistant for the most part. He is currently CVP, AI at Microsoft AI.
According to Guardian, Subramanya will be reporting to Craig Federighi who is the head of engineering at Apple and has taken on a bigger role working on AI at the company in recent years.
Crucial time for leadership change at Apple
This leadership change comes at a time when many experts say Apple has slipped behind other major tech companies in artificial intelligence, a field that has gained new momentum since OpenAI introduced ChatGPT in 2022.
The company introduced its main AI package, Apple Intelligence, in June 2024, but updates to its products have been slower than those from competitors like Google. Apple has added small improvements, such as real-time language translation in the latest AirPods, a feature Google offered years earlier, and a fitness app that uses an AI-generated voice during workouts, but bigger upgrades are still on the way.
One of the most anticipated changes, a major AI-driven redesign of Siri, has been hinted at for more than a year, but its launch has been delayed several times.
