Hustler Words – Apple is shaking up its artificial intelligence division, announcing that John Giannandrea will step down as AI chief. Taking his place is Amar Subramanya, a seasoned executive with extensive experience at both Google and Microsoft. Subramanya, who most recently led engineering for the Gemini Assistant at Google, is seen as a strategic hire, bringing valuable insights into the competitive landscape. Giannandrea will remain as an advisor through the spring.
This leadership change follows a period of turbulence for Apple Intelligence, the company’s AI initiative launched in October 2024. The rollout has been met with criticism, with reviews ranging from "underwhelming" to outright concerning. Early stumbles included a notification summary feature that generated inaccurate and embarrassing headlines, drawing complaints from organizations like the BBC.
Furthermore, the promised overhaul of Siri has been a significant disappointment. A Bloomberg report in May detailed the extent of Apple’s AI challenges. Just weeks before the planned launch of the new Siri in April, Apple’s software chief, Craig Federighi, discovered that many touted features were not functional. This led to an indefinite delay and subsequent class-action lawsuits from iPhone 16 buyers who had anticipated an AI-powered assistant.
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According to Bloomberg, Giannandrea had already been sidelined by this point. In March, Tim Cook reportedly removed Siri from Giannandrea’s oversight, assigning it to Vision Pro creator Mike Rockwell. The company’s secretive robotics division was also reassigned.
The Bloomberg investigation highlighted organizational issues, including poor communication between AI and marketing teams, budget discrepancies, and a leadership crisis that led some employees to derisively label Giannandrea’s group "AI/MLess." The report also noted a significant departure of AI researchers to competitors like OpenAI, Google, and Meta.
In a surprising turn, Apple is reportedly considering using Google’s Gemini to power the next version of Siri. This collaboration would be a notable shift, given the long-standing rivalry between the two tech giants across various sectors.
Giannandrea joined Apple from Google, where he led Machine Intelligence and Search. At Apple, he was responsible for the company’s AI strategy, machine learning infrastructure, and Siri development.
Subramanya now assumes these responsibilities, reporting to Federighi with a clear mandate to improve Apple’s AI capabilities.
Apple’s approach to AI has been distinct from its competitors. While others have invested heavily in large AI data centers, Apple has focused on processing AI tasks directly on user devices using its custom Apple Silicon chips. This privacy-focused strategy aims to minimize user data collection. When cloud processing is necessary, Apple uses Private Cloud Compute, which promises temporary data processing and immediate deletion.
The effectiveness of this philosophy remains to be seen. Apple’s on-device models are smaller and potentially less capable than the large models used by competitors. Additionally, Apple’s reluctance to collect user data has forced its researchers to rely on licensed and synthetic data for model training, rather than the vast amounts of real-world data used by rivals.
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