Apple shakes up AI team as Siri’s comeback stalls

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

Apple’s AI chief, John Giannandrea, is stepping down just as the company tries to drag Siri out of her long, awkward phase and into something resembling 2025. 

The announcement dropped Monday, marking the latest chapter in Apple’s increasingly turbulent quest to make its voice assistant smarter than, well, a talking box from 2011.

Taking the reins is Amar Subramanya, Apple’s newly crowned VP of AI. 

If his name sounds familiar, that’s because he’s spent nearly two decades shaping AI at Google, then hopped to Microsoft’s AI division this summer before being scooped up by Apple. 

Now he’s tasked with overseeing everything from machine learning research to AI safety, and, no pressure, fixing Siri.

Giannandrea, who was once Google’s AI and Search czar, arrived at Apple back in 2018 with the promise of giving Siri a brain upgrade. But progress has been leisurely. 

In March, Apple quietly hit the snooze button on a more personalized Siri, insisting the project was “taking longer than we thought.” 

It wasn’t going well. Bloomberg later reported that Tim Cook had “lost confidence” in Giannandrea’s leadership, prompting him to hand key responsibilities to Vision Pro lead Mike Rockwell. 

Giannandrea will stick around as an advisor before officially retiring in spring 2026.

Apple, meanwhile, insists this isn’t chaos. It’s evolution. The company says Subramanya’s history of turning AI research into real products is exactly what its future Apple Intelligence features need. 

He’ll report directly to Craig Federighi, who has already been shepherding Apple’s AI reboot and is now essentially the studio head for The Siri Redemption Arc.

And the next big episode? Apple expects to launch the long-delayed upgraded Siri next spring. 

Rumor has it some of Siri’s new tricks may come courtesy of Google’s Gemini model, customized for Apple’s privacy-first approach.

Coach Cook, ever the optimist, says he’s thrilled to have Subramanya joining the team.